the journey to greatness
by hollywoodwiz
Summary: This is a retelling of the story starting from season 6 onward. I don't believe the writers were fair to the character of Clark and i hope to make the story make more sense then what the show gave us. I hope you all enjoy
1. Chapter 1

This is a retelling of season 6 onward and I hope to make it as entertaining as I can. I don't believe the show really was fair to Clark during this time so I hope to make it better. The story will start at the very beginning of season 6.

Journey to Greatness

As Clark looked down upon his beloved earth as he slowly drifted away in space he could not help but feel a great guilt and sorrow because he knew it was his fault that Zod was now causing so much destruction on his adoptive planet. Clark was scared that because of his mistake all of his friends and humanity in general were going to have to pay the price.

Clark couldn't help but think to himself

"I have to find a way to get out of this and stop Zod"

Suddenly the Capsule that Clark was stuck in came to a stop and Clark was now confused and with great shock and surprise a hole opened where Clark was standing and Clark began to fall screaming and having no idea where he was going to land.

Clark landed in a vast desert, Where the winds were howling and the wind was dry. Clark landed and he stood up and he looked around thinking,

"Where am I how do I get out of here"

Suddenly Clark heard a howling sound and suddenly Black wraith creatures started to attack Clark, Clark put his hands up to try and protect himself but it was of no use, The wraith creatures were clawing at Clarks face and his body causing damage to Clark. Suddenly a bright light shown and the wraiths were chased off and Clark was left confused but thankful as he looked around.

Clark saw a dark figure covered with a black cloak and he yelled out to the mysterious figure

"Thank you, you saved my life who are you"?

The dark figure removed her cloak and revealed herself to Clark, She was a very beautiful woman who introduced herself to Clark saying

"I am Raya".

Raya led Clark back to a place with shelter where Raya called home.

"who are you" asked Raya. Clark replied by saying

"My name is Clark Kent, I am from Earth", Raya looked at Clark curiously because she formerly worked for Jor-el whom was a kryptonian scientist whom often had talks of earth with the young blond scientist. Raya looked at Clark and responded with surprise

"you are Kal-el, you are the son of Jor-el how did you get here"? Clark was shocked at the revelation by this young blond woman that she knew his father. Clark responded

"I was sent here by Zod, he is using a human named Lex luthor as his vessel, Zod used me to open the portal to release him and take control of Lex". Raya was disappointed in Kal-el's answer. She couldn't possibly understand why the son of Jor-el would possibly help Zod to escape, Raya had a major look of disappointment on her face which clark noticed and told her

"you don't understand I had to choose between between killing Lex, a human being or letting Zod out, I won't kill a human being, I used the kryptonian blade on brainiac destroying him which opened the portal for Zod"

Raya said angrily

"sometimes Kal-el you have to do something that is wrong for a greater good, you should know that Kal-el" Clark looked at her with resolve on his face and responded

"murder is never for a greater good and can never bring peace, My earth parents taught me to value life and to protect it and I will not go against that" Raya shook her head because she did understand what Kal-el meant, She saw the goodness in him that she used to see in Jor-El.  
Raya looked at Clark with understanding and responded

"I respect that you're a good person Kal-el, but Zod will not share that same compassion, he will destroy anything that stands in his way and will not stop until he has whatever he wants". Clark looked at Raya and realized she was right about Zod. Clark knew that he had to get out of here as soon as he could to so he could stop Zod. Clark then looked at Raya and asked

"Raya, where are we, What is this place"? Raya responded

"It is called the phantom zone, It is an intergalactic prison created by your father Jor-el to house all of the worst criminals of the known 28 galaxies" Clark was amazed at this and responded to Raya

"Why are you here Raya, you don't seem like a criminal to me" Raya with sadness in her heart remembered why she had to come here and responded to Clark

"Jor-el sent me here to save me from the destruction of Krypton, I was told to watch over you Kal-el should I ever escape, I am your friend Kal-el and I always will be" Clark smiled at Raya because he actually had someone from krypton who could tell him about his old home and about his family. Clark with hope in his heart responded

"thank you Raya that means a lot to me but I have to get out of here to stop Zod, he is trying to turn Earth into a new Krypton" Raya understood and responded to Clark by saying

"There is a portal in the desert and it will take you back to your home, I can lead you there" With a glimmer of hope in his heart Clark responded

"thank you so much"

Clark and raya walked through the phantom zone conversing with each other, Clark asked

"So how was it you were able to stop the wraiths from attacking me"? Raya responded to Clark by saying

"it's a crystal from krypton created for law enforcement, it captures escaped wraiths as well as repelling them away, its helped keep me alive all of these years" Raya then reached into the pocket of her cloak and gave Clark a similar Crystal. Clark was surprised and responded

"how is it that you have two of these crystals when my father sent you here by yourself" Raya looked at Clark and responded

"your father wanted to have an extra in case you were ever sent to the phantom zone, he wanted to make sure you were as prepared as possible for any scenario so he gave me an extra one just in case". Clark was realized that he was going to have to use his crystal in order capture Zod so he put it in a zipper pocket In his jacket to keep it safe.

The two then arrived at the portal and Clark immediately noticed the symbol of the house of EL as the consule for the portal. Clark then looked at Raya and asked

"how do we open it, and what will happen once we do"? Raya with a worried look then said to Clark

"The portal opens with your blood, but Kal-el once the portal opens it will attract all the wraiths of the phantom zone like a beacon to them, They will all come so you have to escape quickly, I will try to come with you". Clark shook his head in understanding and used a knife given to him by Raya and cut his hand. Blood started to come out of the wound and he used the blood on the consule to open the portal.

Suddenly Wraiths started coming from everywhere and the portal was not fully open, two of them knocked raya down to the ground and Raya dropped her crystal before she used it. Clark then screamed out to Raya and he pulled out his crystal and used it on the surrounding Wraiths but there were too many in number. Suddenly Raya yelled out to Clark to hurry and get into the portal. The portal suddenly became stronger and Clark felt himself sucked into it.

Clark felt himself going down and he suddenly saw earth coming closer to him and he landed on field on earth. Clark stood up and walked out of his crater which Clarks landing caused and he looked around knowing what he had to do, he thought to himself

"I have to stop Zod"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When Clark landed on his beloved earth he landed in a field and he noticed that the sun was slowly beginning to set and Clark only hoped that he made it in time to stop Zod from fulfilling his evil plan…turning earth into a new krypton. Clark activated his super hearing to listen for cries of help but his were literally overcome with screams and cries from people all over the world when suddenly his ears picked up on the sound of his mother's voice "run lionel the barn is about to come down on us".

Clark thought to himself "NO" With unbelievable speed Clark managed to make it to the barn in milliseconds and caught falling parts of the barn that were about to crush His mother and Lionel. With looks of shock on both marthas and lionels face they both saw a look of determination and strength on Clarks faces.

With a shocked expression Lionel asked Clark "how are you here" as Martha gave her son a big hug.

Clark with determination in his heart replied "with some some luck and help from a friend" Martha with tears in her eyes was worried about Clark because the kryptonian dagger she was going to use to stop Zod was now gone and she was scared for the life of her son

"how can you stop Zod Clark, he is extremely powerful" Martha asked with concern.

Lionel quickly chimed in and said "Zod plans on using technology from Milton fines ship to recreate krypton Clark" To which Clark replied "yes I know I have to go face him I have a way to stop him" Lionel with concern replied "Good luck Clark" and Martha gave her son what may be their last hug and said

"I love you Clark, Please come back alive" Clark gave them a look of pure determination and replied "I will"

Clark quickly activated his superhearing and heard the kryptonian technology at the luther mansion and quickly raced over to the mansion to find Zod standing over an unconscious lana. Clark saw the technology being used over a laptop and he used his heat vision to quickly destroy it stopping it from restructuring earths crust and atmosphere, Zod gave Clark a look of shock and total and utter hate

"HOW DID YOU ESCAPE" Zod asked with shock and disgust, Clark gave a look of satisfaction and with some joy responded

"help from an old family friend, you will not conquer earth today Zod" Zod laughed at Kal-el and simply asked Kal-el

"How do you intend to stop me….I will make you kneel before me son of Jor-el" Clark filled his heart with strength and an unstoppable resolve to not let Earth suffer to Zod like krypton did. Zod quickly tackled Clark through the window as they hurled through the air trying to gain control, they landed in a field where they quickly stood up and Zod threw the first punch at Clarks face, Clark put both of his arms up to block the punch feeling some pain go through him from the block. Clark then threw a right kick to Zods knee to which Zod hit Clark in the gut with a very powerful right knee causing Clark to flyback.

Zod then Speeded toward Clark and jumped on top of clark holding him to the ground hitting a massive right cross to Clark while he was on the ground causing Clark to bleed from his mouth and his jaw to be very bruised. Clark used heat vision of the face of Zod and it threw him off of him causing Zod some pain. Clark stood up fast and before Zod could come at him Clark rushed Zod with all speed and hit a massive left cross into Zod sending Zod hurling into the air into another field. Clark then with great speed ran into the field Zod quickly stood up and used his heat vision but Clark dodged it and Before Zod could notice Clark used the crystal on the face of Zod Causing Zod to Scream "NOOO, I WILL HAVE MY VENGEANCE KAL-EL"

The crystal then sucked up the phantom of Zod leaving only an unconscious Lex. Clark picked up his former friend with a look of anger and rushed him to a hospital and then rushed on home to his mother. Clark walked into the house to find Martha and Lionel waiting and Martha ran to him and gave her son a huge hug.  
"Thank god you're ok Clark, I was worried sick" Lionel then gave Clark a look of concern and asked "I take you managed to stop Zod but what about Lex"?

Clark then gave Lionel a stoic look and replied "he is safe at the hospital" Lionel replied

"thank you Clark" realizing the anger Clark had at his son.

Lana was waiting by the bed of her boyfriend Lex luthor, It terrified her being there seeing the face of the man that put a dagger through her hand and she wasn't sure of the life she has now chosen but she wanted to make sure lex was ok. Lex then woke up and saw the beautiful face of Lana Lang and couldn't help but feel angered at the fact he could not remember the last few days.

"how are you feeling Lex" asked lana in a worried voice

"I feel as if my head is about to explode from a massive headache" Lex said with a very faint smile". Lana notice some bruising on the right side of lexs face and asked him

"how did you get that"? Lex using a mirror saw the bruising on his face and replied with irritation at the bruising

"I have no idea Lana, But with all the damage I caused, I deserve it" To which lana with some compassion replied

"no Lex it wasn't you, it was some monster named Zod" Lex then looked at Lana with remorse in his eyes and said

"I can't believe this happened, I can't believe it was used to cause such damage" Lana then gave Lex a hug and replied

"it's not your fault lex, we will make it through this" Lex with some concern then replied to lana,

"First the two aliens last year, and now being possessed by an alien this year, all the meteor freaks, meteor rocks, kryptic symbols… we have to find a way to protect the world… I have to find a way to protect the world" Lana understood where Lex was coming from and quickly responded

"we will, I think we should study the meteor freaks more and maybe we can find a way to be ready next time" Lex then gave her a smile and said

"I agree"

Clark walked into the daily planet and noticed all the chaos and commotion from the damaged area of the basement where a car came through a window and he saw many reporters and people running around because of all the chaos that had just happened. Chloe looked up and with love for her friend ran to him

"Clark, thank god you're ok" Clark looked at her with warmth in his heart and replied back to her

"It was a close fight but I managed to banish Zod, Thank god that your still alive Chloe, I was so worried about you when I left to face Lex, When I as banished to the phantom zone I had no idea whether or not I would see you again".

"The phantom Zone"? replied Chloe with a quizzical look and Clark smiled at her and said

"it's a long story, but before I left you kissed me and I" Chloe quickly cut him off, though she loved her friend she didn't want to be hurt again in case he still loved lana and she quickly said

"let me introduce to jimmy, we knew each other a while ago and we just met each other again and started talking" Jimmy then stuck out his hand for a handshake and Clark with a confused look and quizzical expression shook his hand and said

"hi, my name is clark kent" Jimmy with a goofy look on his face said

"Clark Kent, it nice to meet you CK my name is jimmy Olsen" Chloe looked at the two of them with a bright smile and she was happy because she had her best friend back and jimmy was a really nice guy. Clark was a little hurt but he understood and he just wanted the two of them to truly be happy and he was supportive of them because Chloe has always been supportive of him.

As the sun set and Clark was in his barn he could not help but think to himself about all of the things he has lost; Lana, lex, and jor-el and the power of the fortress. Clark was thinking about the direction that he should now take his life.

"Clark, how are feeling honey" Martha said walking into the barn behind Clark.

"Mom, I have lost a lot in this past year lex, lana, and now Jor-el, I'm not sure where to go from here" Martha gave him a look of concern and relpied

"it's never easy moving on with your life but sometimes you just have to son" Clark then thought about what his father told him in the afterlife telling him about how he would save so many people and how the world would look at him with hope. Clark then realized what he had to do

"mom, I'm going to move on with my life I have to make something more of myself if I am ever going to find any happiness, Classes start again in a few days at central Kansas A and M, I'm going to go back"

His mother looked at him and was proud of his decision and asked him

"What are you going back for Clark" Clark replied to her by saying

"I don't know, I'm just going to take all the classes I can but I know that I'll never be able to move on with my life by living in the past, this is something I have to do if I am ever going to truly find my destiny" Martha looked at his and understood and said

"I love you Clark" Clark gave her a loving look and gave her a hug and replied

"I'll still live here mom, I'll just be a college student again" Clark said with a little smile and with that Clark went to his room and got onto his computer and started registering for classes.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It had been a few days since the events of Dark Thursday and Clark was set to begin college. Classes at Central Kansas were set to begin on Monday and Clark had been spending the past week trying to help clean the mess in various cities around the world. Because of Zod and Brainiac there had been a lot of rioting and combined with the fact that electricity had been knocked out all over the world there had been billions in property damage in cities all over the world; Metropolis, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and the list kept going.

Clark was spending all day and night trying to help clean up the damage but it seemed endless and Clark was beginning to feel something that he didn't really feel ever …fatigue.

Clark walked into his house after another long night of clean-up he quickly grabbed a newspaper and began to read that though a lot of the clean-up was going well thanks in large part to his efforts, cities in Europe were still a bit behind.

Martha gave her son a loving look but she knew that even her son had his limits and he did not want to see him suffer because of something that was not his fault

"Clark you have to slow down you have been cleaning up day and night without sleep for days now" Clark looked at his mother with a sad look because he knew he could not afford to really stop or rest now, especially since this whole mess he felt was his fault.

"I can't rest now mom, this is all my fault if I had just done what Jor-el said and killed Lex, then none of this would have happened" Martha gave Clark a look of sympathy and compassion then responded

"You're not a killer Clark, It's not in you to kill and this is not your fault, without you the world would have been taken over by Zod and the human race would have been taken over sweetheart" Clark still felt responsible because after all Brainiac was kryptonian AI and Zod was a kryptonian, both beings coming from Clark's home world. Clark could not help but feel guilty because it was beings from his own planet that caused so much destruction to his beloved adoptive home world and Clark felt that maybe if he did not exist then maybe none of this destruction would have happened and Clark had trouble living with that. Clark looked at his mother and responded back to her

"Mom it was technology and evil from my home world that threatened earth, and I can't help but think that maybe if I were not here then maybe none of this would have happened". Martha felt really bad for her son but she did not know what to say to him to comfort him because she knows that her son always takes unwarranted guilt on himself so she just gave her son a hug and then she looked up and saw his face and noticed he was sweating

"My god Clark your sweating and you have a fever, lay down and rest Clark let me get you a wet rag and make you some tea". As Martha put a wet cool rag on Clarks forehead and made him tea Lois lane then walked into the kitchen and noticed that smallville had a wet rag on his forehead.

"feeling a bit under the weather smallville" Lois teased in her usual sarcastic tone, Clark lowered his eyes and gave Lois a small smirk and responded in his own sarcastic tone

"Wow Lois you're so observant, is there anything else you would like to inform me of". Martha then chimed in and gave her son the tea she made for him. "thanks mom" Clark said. Lois then gave a bit of a shuckle and replied

"It seems that the Clean- up that was supposed to take months is somehow getting done much quicker than expected". Clark and Martha exchanged looks and Martha looked at the woman she considered to be like her own daughter

"Well it's a miracle, after all the tragedy of that day it's nice to think that the damage doesn't have to be seen that long" Martha then gave Clark a loving and knowing look and Clark simply gave her a small smile. Clark felt so lucky to have the type of parents he did, he honestly could not imagine what his life would have been if Jonathan and Martha Kent had not found him.

"Well I think that there is a story there and I plan on finding it" Lois said with a smile, Lois had just started trying to find stories for the inquisitor, a local tabloid for metropolis and the surrounding area. Clark gave her a quizzical and sarcastic look and simply said with a smile

"Good luck Lois" Martha then looked at the young woman and responded "If there even is a story Lois"

Lois looked at both of them and she was determined to get to the bottom of this because damage that should take months to clean-up does not simply get cleaned up within a week. "I will get to the bottom of this story mrs.k" Lois said with excitement. Clark then looked at the hazel eyed woman and responded

"I don't think there is a story there Lois, the reason the clean-up is happening so quickly is because of the hard work of the people doing it not because of some unexplainable phenomenon"

Lois was now determined to prove her story and replied back to Clark with that same determination "we'll see Clark, if there is a story I will find it" Martha and Clark then gave Lois a look of support and reassurance and Martha responded to Lois

"I know if there is a story…. You'll be the one find it Lois". Lois then gave Martha a look of joy and Lois smiled and responded "Thanks mrs.k". Clark then responded "Well I have to go out and do some chores"

Martha looked at her son with concern and responded

"I think not, you're going to rest and take it easy son" And Lois looked at Clark and said "yea smallville you should listen to your mother she is a very smart woman, and besides you're not exactly looking like your usual farmboy self". Clark stood up from his seat at the counter and looked at both women and said "sorry I can't rest, I have work to do" and then walked out of the house as both women looked at him with some concern. Lois then looked at Martha and said

"he is really stubborn sometimes" to Which Martha with a concerned look replied "Yea, just like his father".

Clark went out into the field so that he could begin gathering the cows so that he could milk them. He also needed to do some field work in order to keep the grass clean as well put some feed out so the cows could eat more than just grass that way they remained healthy. Clark was feeling a bit weak but he was feeling strong enough to do his chores, he wanted to do his chores in normal speed since Lois was at the house. Clark always did his chores in normal speed when people were at the house, it kept the risk of exposing himself to a minimum. As time went by and the chores got done one by one the sun slowly began to set and Lois was going to stay the night at the house.

As Clark walked into the house his mother informed him that Chloe and Jimmy were coming over to have dinner with them and Lois. Clark was happy to hear of this but he was also worried. He didn't want them to be around when he went out to help further with the clean-up. Especially because on this night Clark was going to start helping out in Europe since his speed was now fast enough to where he can now run on water.

"Hello Ck" Jimmy said as he entered the kitchen, "Hi Jimmy" Clark said with a genuine smile, Though Clark had just recently met jimmy he thought that jimmy was a good guy.

"What's up Cuz" Lois said giving her cousin Chloe a loving hug, "just wanted to come over and enjoy some of Martha Kent's amazing home cooking" Chloe replied with a beautiful smile. Clark then gave Chloe a hug a said in friendly manner

"I'm glad you both were able to come over, sorry I haven't seen you more lately but I've been a bit…busy" Chloe gave her best a friend an understanding nod and replied

"I know". The five of them sat down and enjoyed a great meal cooked by Martha Clark was genuinely happy for the first time in quite a while sitting with ;Martha, Lois, Chloe, and Jimmy.

When the dinner was over Clark decided to go out into the barn and do some late night work, Chloe, jimmy and Lois all left and drove back to their home above the talon. Martha went to bed, Clark did a few late night chores in Superspeed and then when he was finished he was prepared to leave to go to Europe but then suddenly his nose began to tickle and he felt something that he had never before felt… the urge to sneeze. Clark felt it coming and he could not stop it "AACHOOOOOO".

Clark sneezed and the barn door flew off into the late night sky flying miles into the air and landing on the street right outside the talon. Luckily no one was hurt, "What the hell was that" Lois said in an irritated manner. As Chloe, Jimmy, and Lois, looked out the window what they saw was somewhat shocking. The kent barn door in the middle of the street.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Lois, Chloe, and Jimmy were woken up by the crash of the Kent barn door in the middle of the street right outside of their apartment as well as people living around the talon. People started gathering outside to look at the barn door that just landed in the middle of the street. Lois, Chloe, and Jimmy went downstairs to check it out as well. Lois looked at the door and asked in a highly curious tone

"Why is the Kent barn door lying in the middle of the street"? As jimmy was staring in shocked silence, Chloe was also wondering the same thing but she realized that the explanation had to do with her super-powered best friend from another planet and she realized she had to cover for him so she quickly responded back to Lois

"I don't know Lois but I am sure that there is a logical explanation for this" Jimmy then looked at his girlfriend with a surprise look in his eyes and jokingly said

"Yeah right, what could possibly explain this Chloe, The Kent farm is miles away and the Door was perfectly attached to the barn when we were all over there for dinner" Chloe was at a loss because she didn't know what to say to her cousin or her boyfriend. As a crowd of people gathered outside to look at the door Chloe noticed that there were at least 25 people outside looking at this and she didn't know how Clark was going to explain this.

Clark was angry at himself he could not believe that he had just allowed himself to sneeze the barn door literally off of its hinges. Martha was awoken from the sound and she quickly woke up and rushed out to the barn to notice that the barn door was gone. She noticed Clark standing there in shock and she Asked in a shocked tone

"What happened Clark" Clark then looked at her and slowly but surely said because he was unsure of how to truly explain this but he gave it his best shot anyway

"I….sneezed and the Door flew off" Martha then gave her son a hug and responded in a very concerned way

"you were in the phantom zone, you have been working non-stop lately doing clean-up and working on the farm, you may have caught some kind germ or sickness in the phantom zone and you haven't rested to allow yourself to heal". Clark then looked at her with a bit of a confused expression,

"So you think that I have a cold"? Martha then replied

"it's possible Clark". Clark then looked at and realized that though that it is probably true he has a cold, he still has a responsibility and even if he is sick he can't let that stop him.

"Mom I have to go see where the barn door landed and help anyone if they are hurt" Clark said in determined voice, Martha looked at her son and she knew that there was no way to really stop him because she sensed the conviction in his heart about wanting to do the right thing so she responded lovingly  
"Clark just please be careful, I know that once you check on the door your still going to continue helping with clean-up tonight aren't you"? Clark then responded back to her with a very simple answer

"yes, I have to mom, it's my responsibility to do what's right even if I am sick" Martha realized that there was no stopping him and she gave Clark a look of understanding and replied

"Be careful son" Clark shook his head and replied "I Will mom". And with that Clark Super-speeded out of the barn.

Clark stopped outside of the main town streets and he used his x-ray vision combined with telescopic vision to see that a crowd of people had gathered around the door and he noticed that a city truck was coming to clean up the door and Clark noticed that the city truck was a few miles away and there was no way Clark could get to the door because there was a crowd of people surrounding it. Using his speed to get the door would really scare the people around the door so he thought it best to just let the city crew clean up the mess, Clark was just glad that no one was hurt. Clark also saw that among the crowd there was Lois, Chloe, and Jimmy. He knew that he couldn't just walk up and join the crowd because since he wasn't driving it would look really suspicious to Lois and Jimmy so Clark decided to go to Europe and help clean up the damage there. Clark realized that if he wasn't at the house then they couldn't suspect him of blowing the door away and he could always tell Lois and jimmy that he was in Metropolis getting some supplies. So with that realization Clark super-speeded over to Europe in barely over a minute and he began to help clean up the damage in London, which was hard hit due to the events of Dark Thursday.

Clark realized maybe doing Clean-up tonight was not such a great idea but he didn't care he couldn't let a barn door and a cold stop him from doing what needed to be done. As Clark was speeding gathering debris in London he noticed he was getting a phone call from his best friend Chloe so he answered the phone.

"Hi Clark…Why exactly is your barn door in the middle of the street outside of the talon"? Clark was outside city limits of London where he would not be seen around the debris so he could take the call without being seen,

"Chloe… I sort of….. Sneezed and the Door just flew off" Clark said in a rather embarrassed way.

"Where are you now Clark"? asked Chloe who was concerned for her friend because Clark was not the type to ever be sick.

"I'm in London, helping with damage clean-up" Clark responded. As it was night time in smallville it was slowly starting to be sunrise in London and Clark felt some extra strength thanks to the rays of the sun.

"Clark your barn door is lying in the middle of smallville, why are you in London"? Clark realized why she was asking this but he had to continue doing this and responded back to Chloe

"Chloe, I can't let a barn door or a sneeze stop me from doing this and I won't let it stop me" Clark said in a strong voice and he knew that he could explain the barn door and cover the fact that it was his sneeze that blew it off.

"Just be careful ok Clark, Lois and Jimmy are with me and they are wondering why exactly your barn door was in the street". Clark knew that they would be asking him questions as to what happened but he responded back to Chloe a little concerned asking

"Where are they now"? Chloe replied

"They went back to bed, I told them that we would talk to you in the morning, it took some major convincing but I finally got them to settle down and go to sleep" Clark was thankful for that and replied back in a thankful manner

"Thanks Chloe, I'll be back in Smallville soon".

Clark was back in Smallville at the break of Dawn and he realized that pretty soon Lois, Chloe, and Jimmy would be over. He got a very quick shower and put on some fresh clothes and decided to take the initiative and drive over to the talon and confront the situation head on. Clark walked into the talon and brought a coffee and just sat down and waited. Clark thought to himself about starting college again and for once he was genuinely excited again because he felt it was really the right thing to do to go back. He just hoped that when he did go back that he didn't have another kryptonian artificial intelligence machine pretend to be a professor just so that it can trick Clark into releasing another alien criminal. Clark just wanted to attend his classes and try to live his life. He texted Chloe and let her know that he was already at the talon.

Chloe, Lois, and Jimmy walked down the stairs of the Talon and noticed Clark sitting down enjoying a cup of coffee.

"Smallville your barn door landed on the street last night" Lois said with a questioning look on her face, "yeah Ck , it was Crazy it just randomly showed up and a crowd of people gathered around to look at it before it was cleaned up by the city" Jimmy said with an equally questioning look on his face". Chloe chimed in to help her friend and spoke up

"I know there is a reasonable explanation for it right Clark"? Clark then looked at them and responded "I was in Metropolis getting some farm supplies and I got home and it was gone, It must have been some crazy wind or something"

"That's crazy smallville" Lois responded, "Really cuz, is it really that crazy in town like smallville, crazy things like that happen all the time" responded Chloe to her cousin.

"Chloe how could a wind just randomly come along and blow a barn door miles away, there wasn't even any storms last night" Jimmy said to his beautiful girlfriend, Chloe looked at him with love and replied

"Trust me Jimmy, in Smallville anything is possible". Jimmy shook his head and he decided to let the matter drop because honestly he was just happy that the door didn't hurt anyone.

"Well smallville looks like you have a door to fix, and I have a story to write, I see the headline now CRAZY WIND BLOWS AWAY DOOR" Lois said to Clark. Clark just slightly smiled and shook his head at his friend Lois Clark now realized that he had a new power. With the ability to sneeze a barn door miles away Clark realized that he had the ability to gather massive amounts of air into his lung and with blow out that air with great force. Clark said bye to his friends and left he decided to super-speed to the ocean.

Clark was standing on an abandoned beach at the Atlantic Ocean because he wanted to test his power. Clark breathed in all the air he could and blew it onto the water causing a massive wave to go out into the ocean. Clark smiled to himself because he was happy that he had a new power, a power that could really help out in certain situations. Clark then super-speeded back to his house to get a little rest before he started clean-up again, he also knew that in a couple days he was starting Class.

Lex was looking at the morning Metropolis journal wondering why a barn door was in the middle of the street. Lex recognized the door and he knew it was from the Kent farm. Lana walked into Lex's office and asked him what he was looking at and Lex showed Lana the paper. Both of them looked at the story and recognized the door.

"that is from the Kent farm" Lana said in a surprised voice, Lex looked at her and smiled slightly and replied "I know" Lana looked at him and asked

"What are you thinking"? Lex looked at her and replied "I don't know what to think".

Suddenly at that moment Gas grenades crashed into the office window knocking out Lex and Lana with the gas. Suddenly 3 men climbed up into the window using advanced climbing equipment and a voice said

"grab him".


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Jack nelson and Todd barrow tied the knocked out body of Lex down to a metal slab and blind folded him according to the wishes of the person who hired them. The room had a metal slab table, A few lights and in the ceiling and had many wooden boxes lying around. The two kidnappers took Lex to an old warehouse building outside of Metropolis. Jack was a man in his late 30's whom had previously served in the army and after leaving had decided to work private security for richer people but that job quickly turned into more of a mercenary type job doing jobs for people who would pay him, these jobs included anything from corporate espionage to kidnapping.

Todd was a young man in his late 20's, he was a former construction worker who decided to pursue a different career as a boxer, unfortunately he broke his arm pretty badly and decided to enter security as his profession but much like jack, Todd quickly became a hired kind of hand.

"Get some food and water ready for our little guest" Jack said to Todd with a bit of a grin on his face. Jack knew that their employer wanted some answers from Lex the main answer being how Lex got all those powers on what is being described by the world as Dark Thursday. The younger man responded a bit irritated

"Why, not like that maniac deserves it after what he did" Jack looked down at Lex with curiosity in his eyes and then he looked back at Todd and responded

"That may be true junior but we need him alive if we're ever going to get answers for our employer, whom by the way is paying us a hefty amount of cash". Todd looked at the unconscious Lex and finally decided that he would go get some food and water for him, even if he really didn't want to. Suddenly both men heard Lex making sounds and starting to wake up although he was blindfolded so there was no way of Lex knowing where he was.

"WHERE THE HELL AM I"? Screamed Lex. Jack simply chuckled and replied with sarcasm

"what's wrong Lex, not your usual five star accomodations" Todd looked at Lex and shook his head and said "you got a lot to answer for Lex, so I would recommend saving your strength because this is going to be a long night".

"What do you people want"? Responded Lex with concern and worry in his voice, Jack rolled his eyes and responded back

"answers, the first of which being how did you get all those powers Luthor"? Lex had to think of something to get himself out of this and just responded back

"I don't know what you're talking about" Todd didn't like the lying from Lex and said in a firm voice

"Don't play coy Lex, cameras around Metropolis saw you fly, there are dozens of reports from people stating that they saw you use extraordinary powers and we want to know where they went and how you got them". Lex was pissed, he wasn't going to tell these people a damn thing, he thought to himself how he was going to get himself out of this and decided that these people were probably not acting alone so he would offer them more money than they were being paid.

"Whoever is paying you to kidnap me, I'll double it … triple it, just let me out of here" Jack looked down at Lex and gave an evil grin and replied

"If you're not going to tell us anything.. maybe your little girlfriend will".

Lana woke up in a hospital barely remembering anything that happened then she thought to herself "Lex, Where is Lex"? Lana was uncertain of what to do until Chloe walked into her room

"Lana you're Ok thank god, there has been gossip all around town about a break-in at Luthor Mansion, I came to the hospital as soon as I heard, I thought about calling Clark but I thought that may get a little awkward" Chloe said with concern for her friend. Lana looked at Chloe with some concern for Lex and asked

"Where is Lex Chloe"? Chloe didn't know where he was and although she knew that Lex was capable of some really bad things she hated to see her friend worry like this so she responded as compassionately as she could

"No one knows Lana, by the time security found you, Lex was already gone, The police don't seem to have any leads either but Lionel knows and he is trying to get a team together to find him along with the police". Lana was unsure of how to respond and wondered if this had anything to do with Dark Thursday or if he was taken for some other reason so she looked at Chloe and replied

"I will wait at the mansion for any calls, just in case whoever did this decides to call there" Chloe looked at her friend and gave her a reassuring nod and replied

"Ok Lana but please be careful".

Clark had just awoken from a small nap, though he really didn't need sleep it was a little refreshing to get some now and again. Clark got a quick shower and then dressed in less than a second and checked the time to see that it was 7 in the morning, it was Sunday and it was one day before he started class again. Clark had been spending most of his time helping with clean up after the disaster of Dark Thursday and had not really gotten much sleep at all, Luckily the rays of the sun were enough keep his physically going just fine he still needed a little sleep sometimes to mentally clear up. Clark walked downstairs to see his mother up and getting ready to leave to complete some state senator duties.

"Hi mom" Said Clark after feeling much better from the cold that had previously stricken him, Martha gave her son a smile and responded

"I see you're feeling better" Clark smiled and replied "sure am". It was right after Clark said this that Lionel knocked on the door and Martha let him in with a smile and Clark asked

"How are you Lionel" Lionel looked at Clark and replied

"Not good Clark, Lex was taken last night and we don't know who took him". Martha grew a concerned and worried look on her face as she looked at Clark

"Do the police have any leads" Asked Clark.

"No, and you're the only one that could really help him" replied Lionel, As both Martha and Lionel looked at Clark wondering what he would say.

"Fine, I'll help find Lex, not because I want to, but because it's the right thing to do" Lionel nodded his head and understood what Clark meant. Clark really didn't want anything to do with Lex anymore especially after Lex told Clark in the barn that their friendship was a lie. Lex had hurt Clark when he said that but he still decided that it was more important to do the right thing and find him.

Clark using superspeed went to the mansion to look for any clues and when he walked into Lex's office he found Lana sitting there waiting for any news.

"What are you doing here Clark, How did you know that Lex was going to turn into that Creature"? Lana asked with an angry expression on her face.

"Milton fine was my professor Lana, He tried to turn me into that creature first…but he failed then he decided to come after Lex" responded Clark trying to be as honest to his ex as he could without giving away the truth about himself.

"Don't pretend like you're here to help Lex, I know you must have some ulterior motive" responded Lana with bitterness in her voice. Clark was getting frustrated at this point but managed to respond in a calm manner

"I'm here because Lionel asked me to help, not because I have an ulterior motive" Lana looked at him and with anger and resentment and asked

"How did you manage not to turn into that creature"? Clark was a bit irritated at this point but once again remained calm and responded

"I'm here to help find Lex, not to talk about my life" Lana gave him a cold icy expression and simply walked to the door and stood by it and replied

"Now is not the time for secrets with Lex's life in danger, now leave". Clark just walked out the door deciding not to argue anymore. Right after Clark left Lana got a phone call from the police, Clark decided that he didn't really have a choice but to listen in using his superhearing.

"hello, , were sorry to call you but all we have at this time is a video tape of the getaway van with a blurry license plate number"

"Thank you officer, please keep trying" replied Lana. Suddenly Clark got an idea and used his superspeed to rush to the police station. He stood outside the police station and used his X-ray vision to figure out how many cops were inside, there were some but most of them were out looking for Lex. Clark could also see all the tape marked Mansion-security and Clark figured that it must be the tape of the getaway van. Quicker that any human eye could see he grabbed the tape and rushed back to the farm and he put the tape into the VCR and watched it and wrote down the license plate number of the van thanks to his enhanced vision, he then used his incredible speed to rush tape back to the police station without anyone knowing.

The license plate number read 48v6j1. Clark used his computer in the barn to get onto the DMV website where he could hopefully figure out whom the Van belonged to. After he searched the number it showed that the van was registered to a private security firm in Metropolis named Security services. Clark looked up the Firm on his computer and found that it was indeed a legal firm that provided security for anyone rich enough to pay for it. Clark thought to himself

"It must be a front, this Firm has to be a cover for something else". Clark then called Chloe,

"Hey Chloe, have a small favor to ask" Clark said hoping Chloe wasn't too busy.

"Let me guess, your trying to find Lex aren't you"? replied Chloe whom was currently at the daily planet going through her usual work day.

"Yes Chloe I am, Lionel asked me to and I agreed to help, seems like the right thing to do" Clark responded

"But Clark, What if Lex knows about your secret, I want him found to because Lana seems to be a wreck, but if he knows your secret he will be more dangerous than ever"

"I don't think he knows Chloe, If Lex knew my secret he would have confronted me by now, I stopped by the mansion to look for clues, Lana seems like a whole different person" Clark said in a sad tone. Chloe could hear the sadness in Clarks voice and responded

"She is just stressed and worried about Lex, and after Dark Thursday she probably has a lot on her mind" Chloe didn't really believe what she was saying but she just wanted to comfort Clark, Chloe knew that Lana had changed, she didn't know how much but she knew she had indeed changed.

"Chloe the van that was used as a getaway vehicle is registered to a security firm named Security Services, it's in Metropolis, can you look it up and see what you find, I'm going to go there myself and investigate" Clark replied. Chloe gave a smile and responded with humorously

"Clark Kent…Investigating, I like the sound of that". Clark smirked and replied

"Thanks Chloe".


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Lana was sitting and waiting she had been on the phone with the police off and on for hours now. Suddenly another call came and she didn't recognize the number so she answered

"hello, who is this" asked Lana. Jack was on the other end of the phone and answered back

"We have your boyfriend , but he isn't talking so if you ever want to see him again I suggest you come to your little talon coffee shop right away" Lana was scared about the situation and replied

"Why, what do you plan to do"? Jack smiled and responded

"Let's just say maybe he'll have a better memory with his little girlfriend here" Lana was angry at this mysterious man but she responded

"fine, I'll go to the Talon, just please don't hurt him". Jack grinned

"Fair enough , by the way don't go to the cops because we will know".

Lana went to the Talon and waited though she was worried for Lex, she was also now worried for herself. She didn't know anything about these people or what they wanted, and she didn't know what they meant by saying that he wasn't talking. But she showed up at the Talon like they asked and she did not tell the police. Suddenly a man walks up to her and tells her to follow him so she does though she doesn't know the man the man is in fact Todd, one of Lex's kidnappers. He says to her

"get into the car , and when we start driving put this blindfold on" Todd hands her a blindfold and she nods her head and complies to his wishes.

"Please just tell me he is safe" responds Lana worried about the safety of Lex.

"He is fine, just do as I ask and soon you will see him". Lana hopes in her heart this man is telling the truth, she hoped Lex was still alive.

Chloe was on her computer at the Daily Planet research Security Services of Metropolis, she noticed that the firm was a legal business and was registered as a legal business. So she hacked into the business information and found that the Firm owned many warehouses across metropolis as well as Kansas itself. Chloe was curious as to why this security firm owned warehouses because it seemed strange to her. Chloe thought to herself that whatever these warehouses were for she could guess that it was probably not all legal and she was going to tell Clark right away.

Clark was across the street from the Firm in metropolis, he used his X- ray vision to see how many guards were there. Clark tried using his super hearing to hear if Lex was in the building but he didn't hear his voice and he wasn't exactly sure of how far he could hear so he decided the best approach was to search the firm itself. His X-ray vision spotted some guards in the building but not many, it wasn't a very tall building, it was only 4 stories high. There weren't many guards but Clark knew that if he used his speed to break in it could set off an alarm which would alert the guards and could lead to them cutting their losses and potentially killing Lex so Clark decided against that plan. Clark decided to use his superhearing again and listen to the conversations of the guards.

He heard about their wives and various aspects about their lives when suddenly something strange happened, Clark's mind starting having strange visions he could literally see visions of the rooms that the guards were speaking in in his mind. Clark was surprised by this because it had never happened before, he wasn't using his X ray vision so Clark knew that wasn't the reason.

Clark was only using his superhearing but yet full images of the various rooms were flowing into his head clouding his mind. Clark thought to himself

"Sound travels in all directions, maybe my hearing is picking up the other sound waves somehow and turning whatever the waves are bouncing off of into visions in my head.. just like sonar". Clark realized that this was a new power, Somehow he now had the power of sonar hearing along with his regular superhearing. Clark closed his eyes and focused on one room at a time when suddenly he had an image of a desk with papers, one of the papers had a list of addresses and luckily with his memory he could recall every address in his head, but first he decided to quickly check in with Chloe to see what she found. Clark wanted to make sure the addresses were not a dead end just in case she found something more useful. So he raced to the daily planet and stopped where no one could see him and then he walked to Chloe's desk

"hey Chloe, did you find anything"? Clark asked

"yeah Clark, I found that Security services owns a bunch of warehouses across the state of Kansas, which I find strange for a private security firm". Clark looked at her and realized that the Addresses his mind saw probably match the warehouses Chloe found.

"Did the warehouses have addresses attached to them Chloe"? Clark asked with hope that this would lead him in the right direction. Chloe nodded her head yes and gave Clark a list of addresses to each warehouse.

"Chloe, these addresses match the ones I saw with my mind when I listened in at the Security services building". Chloe looked at Clark Suspiciously and asked

"What do you mean, you saw them with your mind"? Clark looked at Chloe and decided to explain

"It's the sound waves bounced off objects in the room and my mind created an image of it, like sonar hearing, Chloe I think that not only can my ears hear sound waves far off but they can also pick up the other sound waves from the source of the sound and create images of whatever they bounce off of in my head". Clark thought he sounded crazy explaining this but it is the only thing he could think of.

Chloe looked at him with gleam in her eyes and smiled.

"Wow Clark, that is really amazing, looks like your talents are growing" Chloe said with love for her friend. Clark realized that he needed to check each address one by one but before he could leave Chloe put her arm on his shoulder and said

"let me come with you" Clark gave her a questioning look and asked

"why" Chloe gave Clark a concerned look and responded

"If they have kryptonite you're going to need back up" Clark looked at her and nodded his head. Clark didn't want to bring her along but he knew she was probably right, just in case there was kryptonite it would be a good thing if she were there

"Alright, Chloe you can come, but first sign of trouble and you leave" Clark said with concern for Chloe. Chloe knew that Clark was worried about her and she responded

"fair enough". With that said they both walked outside, Clark found a place with no one looking and he picked up Chloe and started Speeding to each address. Clark put the 1st address into his phone and that gave him a precise location as well as directions. He then used superspeed to take himself and Chloe to the 1st address.

"WHY DID YOU BRING HER INTO THIS" screamed Lex as he heard Lana's voice enter the room. Jack sarcastically replied

"Maybe if you were more helpful with your answers then maybe we wouldn't have to" Todd tied Lana up to a chair and gagged her so that she couldn't talk and to make sure she could not get away. Lex still blindfolded and not knowing really what to say responded

"I told you everything I know" Jack was now getting upset and raised his voice a little and replied

"No, you haven't you're keeping it all a hush hush so no one knows your true involvement with Dark Thursday, aren't you Luthor"? Jack then pulled off Lex's blindfold and said

"It's alright Luthor, you can see me, not like your leaving here alive anyway" Todd gave Jack an irritated look and spoke up

"What do you mean he is not leaving here alive, Why did you take his blindfold off"? Jack looked at Todd and responded back to the younger man

"He is too dangerous to leave alive, he is hiding something that nearly destroyed the world". Todd walked up to Jack and whispered

"He wants answers Jack, not a dead body, this isn't what we were paid for" Jack roared back with anger and struck Todd with a right cross punch and yelled

"I DON"T GIVE A DAMN WHAT HE WANT". Jack then pulled out a taser and tased Lex, Jack laughed at Lex. Todd then got up and rushed Jack taking him to the Ground, Todd was not about to let Jack ruin his payday by killing Lex.

While those two were fighting Lana secretly had a small sharp knife which she was using to cut the ropes that was binding her to the chair. Lana had been captured before and she wanted to make sure she was ready this time so she hid a tiny little knife in her sleeves in a secret sleeve compartment just for this kind of situation.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH" yelled Jack.

"I WONT LET YOU RUIN MY RETIREMENT PAY DAY YOU BASTARD" screamed Todd.

Lex was beginning to wriggle his hands some to loosen the bonds of the ropes tying him down. He could feel the rope loosening some and he was wriggling his hands and body as much as possible to get free. BANG, Todd managed to pull a gun away from Jack and shoot him dead. Todd then set the gun down on a nearby table

Lana finally but the rope and freed herself and as Todd was trying to shake the wounds of the previous fight off Lana saw on the ground the taser Jack used before and she went for it and rushed to use it on Todd and she went to tase him but he blocked it and he pushed her down.

He started walking toward Lana when suddenly Lex escaped from his binds and with Todd's back turned he managed to shoot him in the back. Lex then ran to Lana as they embraced in a hug.

"hey love birds" Todd said with pain from the bullet

"What now" Lex said as he held Lana close. Todd pushed a button in his pocket and smiled causing flames to come up all across the warehouse

"What did you just do"? asked Lana

"you son of a bitch" Said Lex

"Fire bomb, just in case" said Todd with his dying breath, then Todd died.

Flames quickly rose across the warehouse as Lex and Lana looked around they both realized there was no escape and they gave each other a hug. They ran to a spot with small covering and they sat down waiting for the inevitable.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Clark and Chloe checked a few of the addresses but found nothing, turns out this firm held more warehouses around metropolis then they realized and to be thorough Clark had to use his X-ray vision on every part of each warehouse which was quite a bit of space. His super hearing didn't pick up any voices in the warehouses either it's like they were abandoned. So they went to the next address on the list and it was at the very outskirts of metropolis.

Clark stopped a half mile from the warehouse and he used his X-ray vision and saw flames starting to consume the warehouse as well as two bodies trying to hide from the flames, his X-Ray vision told him it was Lex and Lana and his newly acquired Sonar ability told him that there were two other bodies in the warehouse but his hearing couldn't hear their hearts beating so he guessed they were dead.

"Clark what if there is Kryptonite in there" Chloe asked worried about her friend.

"it doesn't matter Chloe, it's too dangerous for you to come any further" Clark replied to his friend, and with that he super-speeded into the warehouse behind the covering Lex and Lana were using. He then used his super breath to put out the fire all across the warehouse.

Lex and Lana looked at each other shocked by what just happened, the flames were everywhere and they were trapped with just a little covering behind them that wasn't burning yet. They both looked at each other shocked and began to stand up to look behind them. Before they could even stand to look Clark had already super-speeded out of the warehouse back to Chloe.

"how are we still alive"? asked Lana with shock and amazement in her eyes

"I don't know" replied Lex equally shocked but also very curious.

As the morning came and Clark awoke getting ready to attend classes again he could not help but think about how crazy things were. Two new powers in roughly a week and a half, Super breath and now Sonar hearing. Clark decided to call the new power Sonar hearing. Clark was all packed up and ready for class so he went to Central Kansas A and M in a second. It was still 8 in the morning and his 1st Class didn't start till 9, His first class being a world history class, he walked into a lunchroom area and he decided to sit down and wait, maybe read the world history text book that he would be using When suddenly a voice from behind him said

"Hello Clark" Clark turned around and noticed someone he had not seen in a long time Professor Joseph Willowbrook. Clark smiled at the man and replied

"hello professor, how are you". looked at the man whom he considered to be Naman, a savior said to have fallen from the stars and is said to possess great strength and have the ability to shoot fire from his eyes, and responded

"I'm ok Naman, how are you this bright morning" Clark looked at him with a slightly depressed face and replied

"please professor, just Clark for now, so what are you here for Professor Willowbrook"? The professor looked at him and Replied

"I'm here to teach the world history class in the mornings" Clark was happy to hear that and looked at the professor and replied

"That's great because I'm in that class, and it's nice to see a familiar face". Professor Willowbrook looked at Clark and smiled back at the young man and nodded his head and responded

"I know you're in the Class Clark, we professors receive a list of names of the students that will be in class before they start, that are why I wanted to teach this class, so I could be there for you in case you needed me". Clark was happy to hear this news, Clark knew that he had to start over in order to truly find a new life as well as find his true destiny but he was glad that at least there would be one person here that he knew.

"Thank you professor, it means a lot to me that you would be there for me" Clark responded with true gratitude toward the professor.

"I'm happy to help you anyway I can in your destiny Clark, besides I bet it was you that stopped whatever it was that threatened the world on Dark Thursday". Clark looked down with some sadness entering his heart because though he did stop it he couldn't help but blame himself for starting it in the first place.

"yes professor, I stopped it but it was my fault it happened in the first place, a villain from my homeworld's past put me into a position where the only way I could stop it would be to kill someone and I couldn't do it" Clark said with disappointment in himself showing through. Joseph looked at the young man with compassion in his heart, he knew that Clark the man he saw as Naman could never be a killer because it simply wasn't in his heart to do so.

"you're not a killer Clark, it's what makes you the hero that you're going to be to be, you don't take life, and that is nothing to be ashamed of Clark". Clark heard his words but he still had trouble forgiving himself because he saw the destruction first hand that happened on Dark Thursday from helping to clean it up. Clark looked at the professor and replied

"how can I be a hero but yet manage to allow so much damage to happen, how can I be a hero when I allowed so many people to get hurt". shook his head because he knew that Clark was blaming himself for something that was not his fault.

"The destruction and pain caused on Dark Thursday is the fault of the one who committed the evil deeds not you Clark, you didn't kill anyone, you didn't cause all that damage, it was the fault of the one who did commit those actions and that person was not you" replied with strong compassion for the younger man. The professor could see in Clarks eyes that the young man held himself back with all the guilt that he carried in his heart and he hoped that Clark would be able to let the guilt go and truly be able to free himself from it.

As class began Clark sat in his seat and looked around at the class of students. He was hopeful that going back to college was the right course of action, he felt that in his heart it was the right thing to do. It was a way for him to have a bit more of a social life and hopefully maybe just maybe find some happiness along the way. Clark still wondered in his heart if he would ever find someone that he could be with, someone that he could tell his secret to.

Professor Willowbrook

began to name the names on his list to check attendance "Jacob willow", Clark wondered if this great destiny that he has would ever allow him to find any happiness or if he was destined to be alone forever, "Ashley Thompson", Clark knew that he wanted to help people but he wanted to make sure that he tackled his destiny the right way without rushing into anything and making anymore stupid mistakes like he had done in his past. "Glen Matthews" Clark wanted to accept his destiny, he wanted to be that hero and help people because he now felt that was what he was sent here for but he also didn't want to be alone, he was afraid to be alone. "Clark Kent" Clark replied "here", Clark wanted so bad to be in a good relationship but it seemed like they either died in his arms like Khylie and Alicia or he lost them by not telling them his secret because he wanted them to be safe like with Lana.

Clark thought to himself whether or not he could really even date, if there was a woman out there that could accept him or not, if that was even possible "Lori Lemaris".


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

As world history class began Clark was focused on trying to do well in class, Lori Lemaris one of the students that professor willowbrook announced was sitting right next to him in class. Clark noticed that she was a very beautiful woman and Clark found himself distracted by her. She was roughly 5 ft 10 inches tall, Clark noticed that she was taller than even Lois, Lori was roughly 135 pounds and Clark noticed that she had a really athletic kind of body but her curves were certainly very impressive. Clark was very attracted to this woman and he thought to himself "Wow she looks like a beautiful swim suit model from one of those posters you see at the store". Lori had long beautiful dark hair and beautiful shiny blue eyes.

Professor Willowbrook was explaining the class syllabus and explaining how the class was going to work. The professor explained the grading system to the class and how assignments were going to be turned in, Then the professor announced that there was going to be a Celtic festival that in a few days at centennial park in Metropolis and he wanted all of his students to attend, Professor Willowbrook announced

"Celtic history is an important part of world history as well as European history, so I'm going to assign study partners to go to the festival". Professor Willowbrook could see Clark making googly eyes at the young woman named Lori sitting next to him so he got an idea and he slightly smirked at the thought. The professor decided to make people sitting next to each other study partners knowing that would make Clark and the young woman named Lori partners for the festival. Clark was more than happy with the decision. And little did Clark know so Was Lori.

"Wow he is handsome and tall" Lori thought to herself, Lori was happy about this tall, dark, and handsome man sitting next to her. When the professor announced the Celtic festival and that he was going to assign study partners to go to it she was hoping that maybe her partner would be this man…. "Clark Kent" she thought to herself "I like that name". She was very happy when the professor announced that it would be the two of them as partners and she was looking forward to getting to know this man name Clark.

At the end of class Clark nervously turned his head toward Lori and asked "do you want to get some coffee at the campus book/coffee shop"? Lori was surprised by this because she was a little nervous talking to this man so she replied a little nervously

"yea, that would be great". Clark smiled because he was very happy at that answer.

Clark and Lori were now sitting at a book and coffee shop in the campus, the store sold various books of all kinds from Shakespeare to science fiction, The shop also had a small restaurant with a few tables and chairs, it sold various coffee drinks as well as some muffins and bagels and other snacks. As the two of them sat down with the coffees they each ordered they were both unsure of what to say, they were both attracted to each other and neither of them were sure of how to get the conversation started.

"so what are you majoring in" Clark asked with nervousness just really trying to break the ice with Lori

"biology, I have always wanted to be able to help animals, especially ocean animals, I would like to one day be a marine biologist" replied Lori with a smile. Clark was taken aback by the beauty of her smile and the beauty of the woman.

"What about you" asked Lori, Clark thought to himself of how to answer and replied

"I have decided to take general studies and just study all I can, philosophy, government, science, everything I can, I don't really know what I want to do with my life, I think maybe I want to travel the world" Clark said hoping that was a good enough answer. Lori was happy with that answer, she thought it was pretty amazing that Clark wanted to travel the world seeing as that was also what she wanted to do.

"any idea of a career you would like to have someday" asked Lori with a smile on her face, Clark thought to himself on how to answer because he hadn't really thought about it. Clark had spent so much time worrying about protecting his secret, stopping the meteor infected, and trying to stop alien threats that he had never really thought about the career he wanted to have so he answered the best way he could

"I was thinking of maybe archaeology, or maybe journalism, or possibly astronomy, it's hard for me to decide right now, my father passed away late last year and I have been running our farm, haven't had much time to consider a career" Clark said with some sadness in his voice and eyes because he was thinking about his father. Lori was saddened by what Clark just said about losing his father and felt a little guilty for accidently having Clark talk about it

"I'm sorry to hear about your father" Lori replied feeling a little guilty, Clark gave her a small smile and responded

"it's ok, it's not your fault" Clark said understanding that Lori was just asking him what virtually any person would .

"I understand what it's like to lose someone, I lost my father left when I was young, he abandoned me and my mother when I was a kid, it's been my mother and me for quite a while now" Lori replied with sadness showing through her beautiful facial features. Clark was very sad to hear that Lori's father abandoned her, he couldn't understand why anyone would do that so he replied compassionately

"from where I'm sitting it's his loss" Clark said with compassion radiating from his blue eyes, Lori looked back at Clark and could tell that he was a genuine good person who meant what he said and Lori could feel a few tears coming from her eyes because she could see the compassion written on his face and responded

"Thank you Clark, That was a very sweet thing to say". Clark was now more nervous than ever because of the next question he was going to ask but he asked it anyway

"There is a coffee shop not too far from here in Smallville, it's called the Talon, if you want we can meet there later after classes and discuss the festival" Clark was hoping she would say yes, Lori gave Clark and warm smile and lowered her eyes a bit in flirtatious manner which made Clark shift in his chair a little bit

"Are you asking me on a date Clark Kent" Lori said flirtatiously, Clark was now shifting in his seat even more and was both happy and extremely nervous at the exact same time and he replied

"umm no, yes, maybe, a study date, something like a date, a study session" Clark was now rambling and he accidently spilled a little bit of coffee on his shirt, "alright, yes I'm asking you on a date" Clark said trying to catch his breath and keep himself from looking like an idiot.

"I would love to" replied Lori with a big smile.

"that's great" replied Clark feeling happy

"see you later" responded Lori with a grin on her face, she stood up and gave Clark and kiss on the cheek and went to her next class, Clark was now blushing from ear to ear and smiling like a happy school boy

Lois was following up on a lead she received while at the inquisitor, A report came in stating that there was a warehouse fire that was raging and then suddenly the fire was put out….without any firefighters around. A local bystander saw the fire go out and called 911 but then the fire was put out before the bystander could even finish the call so the bystander decided to call the inquisitor because the daily planet wouldn't accept the story. The bystander told the story to some folks at the inquisitor and Lois found out about it and decided to check on it herself.

She was now at the warehouse that had the fire, the very same fire that Clark had put out saving Lex and Lana not that Lois knew any of that. She was walking around the warehouse and she could see the scorch and burn marks the fire left, What she didn't see was any sprinkler systems that could put the fire out nor did she see any fire extinguisher, not that a fire extinguisher could put out such a huge fire. Lois knew it was a huge fire based on all the scorch marks.

"How the hell did the fire get put out without any sprinklers or fire fighters" Lois thought to herself. Lois decided to check into who owned the warehouse and then maybe that could give her some answers, Lois looked around the warehouse some more and suddenly she saw a camera in the corner. She thought to herself

"That may have some answers, hello massive byline and hello Pulitzer".


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

As Lois was watching the tape she was highly surprised by what she saw, Two men who seemed to be working together at first but then suddenly turned on each other and started fighting. Lois saw Lex tied and blindfolded on a metal slab and she saw Lana tied to a chair. Lois saw one of the men kill the other and she saw Lex and Lana manage to escape and stop the 2nd kidnapper by managing to shoot him. Lois saw flames erupt in the warehouse and she saw Lex and Lana hold onto each other as they wait to die… then suddenly the flames went out but the tape doesn't have any answers as to why that happened. Lois was currently watching the tape at the inquisitor and she was truly perplexed by what she saw on this tape

"How the hell does a raging fire go out with no explanation" Lois thought to herself. Lois decided that she was going to talk to Lex and Lana to see if they could offer anymore answers to this mystery.

Clark and Lori were now sitting at the Talon enjoying a couple of delicious cappuccinos and couple of tasty blueberry muffins enjoying small talk about college, classes, and the farm. They were genuinely enjoying each other's company. Clark actually felt happy, happier than he had felt in quite a long time.

"how do you like your classes so far" asked Clark

Lori replied with a small smile "I love classes so far. I have learned some things, I have good professors, and I met a really cute boy" Lori said smiling and giving Clark a flirtatious look and smile. Clark smiled back at Lori and decided to have some fun of his own and responded

"And who may this cute boy be" Clark said giving her a flirtatious smile of his own.

"Well he is tall, he has really wonderful blue eyes, he is strong and has amazing dark hair" Lori said enjoying this little verbal exchange with Clark. She loved the fact that Clark could be both this nervous cute guy but yet still have the ability to flirt with her a little bit.

"How do you feel about going on a 2nd date with this cute boy" Clark said giving Lori a smile that was her blush.

"I would love to go on a 2nd date with him" Lori was now enjoying this even more and she loved Clarks blue eyes because she could tell he was happy.

"How about a movie tomorrow after classes" Asked Clark

"I would love to" replied Lori with a nice beautiful smile

Lionel was now currently on the elevator at queen towers because he was on his way to have a word with Oliver Queen, the owner of queen industries. The elevator landed on the floor where Oliver's apartment was located and Lionel got off of the elevator. Oliver was standing there waiting for him and responded in a sarcastic tone

"So what brings Lionel Luthor here, getting tired of corporate takeovers" Lionel laughed at Oliver and his sarcastic comment and responded with one of his own

"Oliver Queen, I haven't seen you since your boarding school days at excelsior with my son Lex, Is Star city too boring for you now"? Oliver couldn't stand the arrogance that the man had but responded

"well I came to Metropolis for the view, I love the scenery, though unlike you I don't see all the people as pawns in my game". Lionel was tired of this back and forth between the two and decided to get down to business

"My son was recently taken, coincidently it was right around the time that you moved to metropolis, would you know anything about that" Oliver gave Lionel and a stoic look and responded

"Lex was taken, My god" Lionel shook his head at Oliver and decided to let Oliver know he was not playing around

"if I found out that you had anything to do with my son being kidnapped, you will pay for it, you understand"? Oliver nodded his head unafraid of the old man's threat and replied

"I understand, you can show yourself the door". Lionel then gave Oliver a small grin with a threatening look and replied

"enjoy your stay in metropolis Oliver" with that said Lionel left. Oliver then knew that he had to figure out why the two people he hired to Kidnap Lex never reported back, he had to find out where the powers that Lex had went. Oliver wanted to protect the world just in case Lex still did somehow have those powers.

Lois was now heading to Luthor mansion to talk to Lex and Lana about the fire, afterall she knew that they were the only ones who could possibly give her the answers she wanted. Lois arrived at mansion and was let in by security to Lex's office, there she saw Lex and Lana.

"Hi Lois, how are you" asked Lana with a friendly smile on her face

"what are you doing here Lois" asked Lex slightly annoyed at the presence of Lois, Lex and Lois never really liked each other that much but her and Lana were friends so he decided to let her in.

"I know you two were caught up in a warehouse fire, and I wanted to interview you about what happened" replied Lois, she knew they were the only lead that she had. Lana gave Lex a worried look after hearing why Lois was there.

"No thanks Lois, I don't like reporters and I'm not answering your questions" replied Lex somewhat indignantly. Lois was not about to take no for an answer so she replied

"I'm not here about dark Thursday, I want to know about the warehouse fire, I saw a tape with the both of you in it and the fire was raging about to kill both of you, and suddenly the fire went out, and I want to know how". Lana looked at her friend with confused eyes recalling how the fire mysteriously went out and responded

"We don't know how the fire went out Lois, It was raging and it was about to kill us and then, a massive gush of wind came out of nowhere putting out the fire and saving our lives". Lex looked right at Lois and said in a sarcastic and angry tone

"Will that be all, or do you have any more questions you want to ask for the inquisitor". Lex wanted the questioning to come to an end and he certainly did not want Lois Lane to be involved in his business. Lois was irritated at the way that Lex was talking to her but she expected it knowing him the way she did. Lana looked at Lois with wondering look and asked

"What do you think happened Lois"? Lois looked and her and responded

"I checked out the warehouse and there is no logical reason as to how that fire was put out, I think someone put it out". Lex and Lana looked at each other knowing that Lois was probably right, they saw the fire get put out with a gush of wind and there was no massive fan or anything like that in the warehouse so they knew that Lois was on to something.

"What are you thinking Lois" asked Lana really wondering what Lois was thinking.

"I know I said I wouldn't bring up Dark Thursday but the damage was cleaned up months earlier than it was supposed to and now, this fire gets put out saving you two, I think they are connected somehow, it's the only thing that makes sense". Lex didn't like Lois but he knew she was smart and he knew she was probably on to something, Lana also believed that maybe Lois was onto something.

"There may be a mystery hero out there and I want to interview him or her" said Lois With a grin on her face. Lana thought about it and she found herself agreeing with Lois more and more, Lex thought that maybe Lois was right but he was not happy that someone with powers was running around unchecked. Lois left after saying goodnight to Lana and Lex, and they both said goodnight to her.

"He could end up being a threat if he does exist" stated Lex.

"He could be a threat or a potential savior, if this mysterious being does exist we need to be ready Lex just in case" Lex gave a little devilish grin and replied

"I agree".


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

As Clark and Lori were sitting down enjoying their movie in the local Smallville theater, they were happy and enjoying their time together. Clark felt like he was on cloud nine, the two of them were sitting down watching a romantic comedy and Clark loved the way that Lori was laughing. Clark was thinking to himself

"College has been great, and I have met this beautiful woman, I hope this happiness can last". Clark knew that even though he was having happy times right now, those happy times could change in an instant. Clark just wanted to enjoy college, and have a girlfriend like a normal guy but Clark knew that he was no normal guy.

Lori was happier than she had been in a very long time, She was hoping that happy moments like this would last quite a while longer. Lori was always afraid that she would never be able to have a relationship. Lori was laughing and enjoying the movie and she occasionally snuck looks in Clark and she could see that he was having a happy time as well and she was glad for that. Lori was worried however she thought to herself

"I hope this can last, but what happens if he finds out the truth about me, will he still be able to accept me". Lori was worried that Clark would find out the secret that she was keeping, and that if he was to find out then he would not want to be with her.

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Lex was taking the words of Lois into consideration, he knew that she was a smart woman even though he really didn't like her and he decided that if she was right and there was some mysterious being out there with powers, that he and the world would be ready. Lex was currently at the 33.1 lab talking to his scientists that he had at the facility.

"I want their powers to be controlled and I want them to be able to be used to protect the world, If we could put all of their powers into one being then maybe we could protect ourselves from alien threats" Said Lex in a bossy tone. One of his scientists names Dr. Timmons, whom was a shorter man in his 50's and was slowly losing his hair responded

"But sir, we don't have a specimen that has been proven to hold multiple powers, the ones here whom do have powers have been shown to have massive problems with their psychosis just with the powers they do have". Lex didn't like his scientists to argue with him so he responded in an angry tone

"we have a potential being out there with superpowers running all over the world, we need to be ready in case the person strikes, we may be earths only hope Doctor, so I suggest you put that brain to use". Dr. Timmons was a bit intimidated by Lex and he responded with a little fear in his voice

"Yes sir, we will".

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When the movie was done Clark and Lori walked out of the theatre with smiles on their face, they had enjoyed the movie and they were ready for the Celtic festival the next day.

"are you ready for the festival, looks like it's going to be on a test" asked Clark with joy on his face

"It should be fun, I love studying world cultures and seeing how different cultures do different things" replied Lori with excitement in her heart.

"I agree, It's amazing to think that there are so many different types of people in the world, each with their own ways of doing things and different ways of seeing the world" Clark replied genuinely happy with the way this conversation was going. It had been a long time since Clark had a real conversation with someone that didn't involve aliens, or threats to earth, or lying to people about his secret, This was just a real conversation between two people who were on a date and Clark loved it.

"Are you going to wear anything green" asked Lori playfully. Clark laughed at the question and responded

"I do have one green shirt but I don't think it would go well with a Celtic festival" replied Clark smiling at the beautiful woman whom he was walking with.

Clark then drove Lori back to her place and when they got to Lori's home they looked at each other and became lost in each other's eyes, It had been a wonderful couple of days and both of them were very happy.

"so I guess I'll see you tomorrow" Said Clark to the beautiful woman.

"Yes you will Clark Kent" replied Lori with a bit of mischievous flirtation in her eyes, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and wished him a good night to which he wished her a good night as well.

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Lex left the Lab and he was on the phone with some of his business managers and he was using them to get together a charity ball. Lex wanted to raise some money to help rebuild some of the damage caused by Dark Thursday and his people told him that they could get Life House to play at the mansion for the charity ball. Lex wanted to help his public relations which had previously taken a big hit thanks to dark Thursday and he figured that this was the best way to do so. Lex was currently driving back to the mansion and he was determined that if there was some super powered being out there, that it would be him that was going to stop him.

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Oliver was currently trying to figure out what happened to the men that he had sent to kidnap Lex and figure out the answers that he wanted to know. Oliver was new to Metropolis so he decided that the best way to ingratiate himself as well as Queen Industries to Metropolis would be to host a big Festival that would allow Metropolis to turn out and enjoy the festival as well as the park. Oliver thought about his love of archery and his love of the color green and he decided that the festival would have a Celtic theme attached to it.

Oliver also decided that he and his company would help out with state politics so he was looking for a state senator to potentially support and he really liked the senator named Martha Kent. He liked what she stood for and he liked the fact that she was married to a down home farmer who originally won the state senate seat but unfortunately passes away. Oliver read that she filled in the seat for him which impressed Oliver so he was going to go out and visit the farm and speak to her. He had already told his people to make an appointment with her in order to discuss some things so he was getting ready to drive over there and meet the state senator.

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Morgan edge was sitting at a table with a group of his men discussing the events a fire that damaged one of their warehouses. Of course no one knew that the warehouse belonged to Morgan Edge and Intergang. Morgan Edge faked his own death years ago, Lex Luthor had shot him years ago after Lex went crazy and everyone thought that Morgan Edge was dead, but little did anyone know he was wearing a lead vest and it saved him that day. After that day he went underground and re-established control of Intergang. Security services, a private security firm was just one of their front businesses that Intergang used in order to help fund their illegal activities. They were making plans and one of those plans was to have some men attack the Celtic festival in Metrolpolis tomorrow. Morgan Edge knew that it was being sponsored by Queen Industries, and that Oliver Queen would be there.

Morgan edge also knew that two of his agents; Jack nelson and Todd barrow went missing or they were dead. Either way Morgan knew that kidnapping a multi billionaire and holding him for ransom would bring in a hefty sum, and he wanted all of it for himself and Intergang. Morgan Edge was just glad that the real reasons the warehouses existed were not discovered because that would really disrupt the profits that Intergang was making.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It was a beautiful sunny morning with just a few clouds and Clark was so excited to be going to the Celtic festival with Lori and he had already took a quick shower and he was now getting dressed, He was scheduled to pick up Lori at 11 in the morning and it was a few minutes until 10 o clock so he was right on time.

Clark finished getting dressed and he got into his truck and he drove over and picked up a waiting and ready Lori.

"Hello beautiful" said Clark in a cheerful manner showing a smile that showed off his great smile.

"I'm doing great handsome, how is your morning" asked Lori with the same cheerfulness Clark had. Lori climbed into the truck and they started driving to Metropolis

"I'm doing better now" replied Clark in a flirtatious tone, Lori gave Clark a really flirtatious smile and replied

"Glad I could help". As the drive continued there was nothing but joy in their hearts, the day was going great, they were spending good time together, and it was a nice day.

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Armed men were sitting at a warehouse getting ready to attack the festival in a few hours, their orders were given to them from Morgan edge himself, take Oliver Queen alive and kill anyone who gets in your way. They were all sat to be paid a good amount of money for the job and they were not going to mess it up. 3 hours, that's when they would strike, 2 o clock in the afternoon and then hell would rain down on that festival.

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Clark and Lori arrived at the festival in no time and they parked close to centennial park and they started walking to the park. Clark looked at Lori and got an idea in his head, he decided to try and hold Lori's hand as they walked and Lori was all too happy to comply. They walked and held each other's hands as they walked to the park together.

They both knew that they were now a couple and they were recognizing this fact now in holding each other's hands. They were both excited about being together and just excited in enjoying each other's company.

They both arrived at the park and they recognized other students that went to college with them, They each saw various booths the represented Celtic culture and they were happy to see it. There were booths that had; Celtic food, terra card reading booths, Celtic clothing booths, palm readers, archery booths, and many others, and at the center of the park was a massive circle where there were people demonstrating Celtic sword fighting techniques.

Both of them visited booths together as they were holding hands they were having their palms read, they were learning how fabrics were made, they were trying out various Celtic foods, they were enjoying their time as a new couple and just enjoying the day together.

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Oliver Queen arrived at the festival a little earlier, the day before he had a nice talk with Martha Kent and he met her Assistant Lois Lane whom he had asked out on a date and she said yes. Lois was too busy working at the inquisitor and helping out Martha to be with him today but she agreed to accompany him to the charity ball that Lex was throwing in a few days. Oliver wanted to give a speech at the festival to help further ingratiate himself and his company to the community he decided that he would give the speech around 1:45 in the afternoon that way the speech would be done early and the people there could enjoy their day. Oliver knew that the festival would be good for his company and he hoped that the people would accept queen industries in Metropolis.

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Lex was at the Mansion with Lana and they were discussing how they would have the mansion decorated for the charity ball and they were discussing the theory that Lois presented to them.

"We should study the meteor infected Lex, We have now been attacked multiple times by aliens, the meteor infected may be our only hope to defend ourselves" Lana said with determination in her voice. Lana hated always being the victim of those with powers and she was determined to protect herself and others from aliens and others with powers that would use them to hurt people.

"I agree, I have my scientists studying meteor infected people right now to try and understand how their powers work". Lana looked at him and was slightly angry

"Why didn't you tell me Lex"? Lex looked at her and replied

"I'm sorry Lana, I didn't want you to worry about this after everything you went through with that creature a couple weeks ago, I never want you to be hurt by a monster like that again". Lana looked at Lex and she understood why he hid it from her, she wasn't happy with it but she at least understood.

"I can help Lex, I can talk to local politicians and gather support in order to help gather support for what we're doing, People will understand the need for us to protect ourselves" Lana said looking for support from Lex.

"I agree Lana, With the proper public support we can study the meteor infected and study ways to help protect the human race from future attacks" Lex replied glad to have his girlfriend be on his side

"If we're going to find a way to protect earth from future alien threats, we're going to need to have political support Lex, We can't do this on our own" Lex nodded his head and agreed with his girlfriend and replied

"What do you have in mind Lana"? Lana replied back to her boyfriend

"I think we need to start having fundraiser dinners with local politicians and policy makers in order to gain the support we need to do this" Lex liked the way that Lana was thinking and replied

"That is the point of the Charity ball Lana, to start gaining the public support necessary, and after the events of Dark Thursday people will be looking for someone to protect them, especially after it was shown that the military couldn't" Lana agreed and replied

"It's up to us Lex, the human race can't stand up to alien threats like this without preparation for it and it is up to us to prepare for it, the meteor shower and the meteor rocks have affected our lives and I think it's time that maybe they actually manage to help us" Lex grinned devilishly and replied

"We will help Lana, We won't let another disaster like Dark Thursday affect earth, together we can stop it from happening again" Lana smiled and gave Lex a kiss, they felt it was up to them to protect the world now.

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It was about 12 noon and Clark and Lori were still walking around enjoying each other's time and enjoying the festival when Lori got a fun idea in her head and she toward Clark and said

"How about we get in line to sword fight each other, it will be fun their using wooden swords and it will be a fun thing to do" Lori gave him a really flirtatious smile and Clark was blushing and replied

"We can do that if you want to, I promise to go easy on your" Clark replied teasing Lori, she smiled and responded

"Oh you're going to go easy on me huh, well Clark Kent I have a few surprises for you" Lori then gave Clark a really sexy look and Clark lost his breath a little bit looking at the beautiful woman who was now staring at him. Clark then decided to give something a shot that he had wanted to do for the last couple days and he lowered his head toward hers and she responded and in what felt like a beautiful perfect moment they kissed each other. People in line looked at them as they kissed but they didn't care, They were lost in what was a perfect kiss. Clark loved the feel of her beautiful lips on his and she felt the same way.

They both stopped the kiss and smiled at each other and continued waiting in line, suddenly it was their turn and they both stepped into the circle and were each handed a wooden sword and they smiled at each other

"Are you ready Clark" asked Lori with a grin on her face, Clark gave a smirk and responded with confidence that really attracted Lori

"Are you"?


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Are you ready Clark" asked Lori with a grin on her face, Clark gave a smirk and responded with confidence that really attracted Lori

"Are you"?

Lori smiled at the confidence that was radiating out of Clark and after he said that she went for an overhead strike and Clark blocked and slightly pushed off causing her to stumble backward slightly, he then swung his sword lightly to her side to which she managed to get her sword down and block it. Neither of them wanted to hurt each other since they were both playing around but they still wanted to have some fun.

They both took a step back and started walking in circles pacing each other and smiling at each other. The people watching them were really enjoying the show, Lori then gave Clark a small smirk and rushed Clark going for a straight shot with her sword to Clark's body, Clark managed to spin out of the way of the attack and he used the momentum to go for an attack on the lower body of Lori, Lori managed to spin forward and dodge the attack.

The wooden swords were not sharp, and they knew that they could just have some fun with them without hurting each other. Of course Lori didn't know that she couldn't hurt Clark even if she did strike Clark.

Lori then swung her sword at the upper body of Clark to which Clark blocked it, they then continued to spar with their swords neither of which landing a strike but slowly increasing the speed of their swords, the people watching them were enjoying the show and were genuinely surprised by the speed that the two were swinging their swords, It was almost like they were trained with swords and they had done this for years. The Crowd was enjoying it greatly and they were starting to cheer the two of them.

`Lori went for one more one more mid body stab at Clark to which Clark blocked it quickly with his sword throwing Lori's sword off its momentum leaving a clear path to Lori, Clark then put the tip of his sword to the chest of Lori and he smiled and said with confidence all over his face

"I win". Lori did not like to admit defeat but she had to this time and she dropped her sword and said with a very small smirk

"fine" Clark gave her an understanding smile and then he gave her a hug and a kiss and the crowd of people cheered the two of them. They then held each other's hand and left the circle so that the next two people can have their turn.

Clark was surprised at himself, he had never really sword fought before, except with A witch named Isobel whom had previously possessed Lana. Clark thought about that experience and he realized that the sword fighting that he had just done with Lori came a lot easier than that,

"Of course Lori wasn't trying to kill me" thought Clark to himself, but Clark also noticed something else, the sword fighting maneuvers he was using came a lot easier to him this time. Clark felt like he had been sword fighting for years, almost as if his muscles and his mind already recognized the moves his body needed to do and his body just flowed with it naturally. Clark was wondering if one of his abilities now was the ability to pick up on physical skills faster than humans because his mind and muscles understood the movements of the skill quicker and learned it quicker.

Clark and Lori than walked around holding hands, It was about 1 o clock in the afternoon and the day was going beautifully, they were continuing to visit many of the booths that were up and laughing and being happy. They stopped by a sign that said that the owner of Queen Industries, Oliver Queen, was going to be making a speech at 1:45 in the afternoon. The sign had a picture of Oliver Queen on it to give the visitors a glimpse of whom had put together the festival.

"What do you think it's going to be about" asked Lori wondering if this was just another corporate industrial tycoon more interested with profits than actually helping the world.

"I don't know, my guess is that it is probably going to be some speech based on helping their public relations" answered Clark whom was wondering himself what Queen industries intent was in Metropolis.

"I don't trust Queen industries, seems like most corporations only care about their profits, not actually helping the world" Lori replied, She had never really trusted big business, she was a lover of nature and of life and she felt that Big business never really respected nature or life.

"I know what you mean, I have seen industrialist not give a care to nature in order to make a few extra bucks, I do hope this will be different" Clark replied remembering when he saw Lex have Arthur Curry tied down just to make sure a weapon could be built that could vaporize water and ruin an ecosystem. Clark hoped however that this Queen industries would be different from LuthorCorp in that fashion.

It was now about 1:30 in the afternoon people were beginning to gather in relatively large numbers by a stage that had been built for Oliver Queen to give his speech. It had a sound system that reached a good distance and it was decorated with Queen industry logos as well as Celtic looking decoration. Clark thought it looked a little too grand for his taste but he figured that for a billionaire it made perfect sense.

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"Alright men, our orders are clear take Oliver Queen alive and kill anyone that gets in your" said Captain Smith whom was leading A team of 10 men including himself to the Celtic Festival to kidnap the billionaire.

The men were split up in teams of 5 traveling in two vans, each van having its own driver whom would wait in the van in order to make the getaway. Each of the 10 men that would be attacking each had a small listening device in their ear so that they could listen to orders from Captain Smith.

"It's almost 1:45 men, get ready" said Captain Smith to his men with an evil smile. It's time to get rich he thought to himself

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Clark was about to pick a spot to stand with Lori and wait to hear the speech when suddenly his super hearing started to kick in and he heard

"Take Queen alive" and "today we get rich" and "kill anyone who tries to get in the way". Clark could hear men driving toward the festival and he could tell they didn't have good intentions and his hearing told him that they were only a couple miles away. He then focused and used his new power of sonar hearing to better assess the situation, He could see the image of two vans in his mind, each one having 5 men in the back and a driver, he could see that each of the 10 men had machine guns and he knew from what he heard that they planned to kill anyone whom got in their way.

"Thank goodness for sonar hearing" Clark thought to himself. Clark thought about the present situation and he immediately realized that he needed to create a distraction that would scare the people enough that they would scatter in different directions, that way they wouldn't be so cluttered together and not be such easy targets for the hostile men coming his way.

"Can you excuse me one second, Lori I have to use the restroom quickly before the speech" Clark said to Lori, hoping to create some distance. Clark realized that there were too many people to use his super speed without being seen but he had a different idea. Clark didn't like doing it but by sending out small heat vision blast he could start a few fires that would cause people to start to run.

Clark listened again and could tell that the vans were now less than half a mile away, so he found a place toward the back of the crowd of people and sent out a few small heat vision blasts to some of the booths setting them on fire.

He got the reaction he wanted as people started screaming and running for their lives as small fires started happening at many of the booth.

"run" "get out of here" "what's happening", Clark heard many people in the crowd screaming things like this and Clark felt guilty but it was the best way Clark could think of to create a distraction so the people wouldn't be such easy targets.

People were running in all direction and dispersing and Clark used see that the two vans were now only a couple hundred feet to the park so using his super hearing he heard Lori and with nobody looking at him he used his super speed to run and get behind her, he tapped her on the shoulder gathering her attention as she too was running away from the fires

"What's happening Clark, Why have all these fires just started" asked a frightened Lori to Clark, Clark realized there was little time and replied

"There isn't any time to explain, there is trouble coming, just find a place to hide, and you will be safe" Clark said.

"What about you" asked Lori now frightened by what was happening and afraid for Clarks safety

"I'll be fine Lori, trust me" Clark said with a confident tone, Lori didn't know what was happening or why but she knew by the way Clark said that to her that he would be fine. Lori then hid under the stage since there was nothing but open space where they were, it was the only place to hide.

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Oliver queen was behind the stage getting ready to make his speech when he heard screams coming from the crowd. He walked out of his tent that had been built for him and his Queen Industry business associates and he could see many of the booths on fire, he also saw many of the people scattering and he thought to himself

"What the hell is going on". He could see the people that had come to the festival and centennial Park running out of the park and heading toward their cars, and he was very pissed off because this was supposed to be a big day for his company.

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Clark was standing by the stage and he made sure that nobody could see where Lori was hiding, he could also see that all the people had dispersed either running into the city or into their cars and leaving.

"Good" Clark thought to himself knowing that they would all be safe now. Clark could see that he was the only one standing in the field now, he used his X-ray vision to check if there were any bystanders still around, hiding behind the stage perhaps, and what he saw was a tent behind the stage with business executives and Oliver Queen himself.

"Oh no, they didn't get out of here" Clark thought to himself.

Clark focused his vision in a more telescopic manner and he saw that the vans had now arrived at a parking lot not too far from the stage or the tent

"All right men get out of the van and lets grab Mr. Queen" Said Captain Smith to his men before they could leave the van

Hearing this Clark thought to himself

"Oh no you won't"

Authors note: I would love to hear any critiques or suggestions for my writing style on how I can improve my overall writing abilities. Hope your all enjoying the story.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The team of men quickly got out of their van and rushed toward the tent hoping to take Queen quickly, however none of them saw Clark Kent on the other side of the stage.

Clark used his X- Ray vision and could see the men running out of the van and he used his super speed to come at them. At a speed quicker than any human could possibly see he tapped each one of the men on the head with his pinky causing them to fall unconscious on the ground, they weren't but a few feet away from the vans, Clark then used his speed to quickly rip each of the door off of each van and he quickly knocked each of the drivers unconscious. He then quickly went to the stage and let Lori know it was safe to come out.

Clark could see that Oliver and his business executives were walking out of their tent to see what all the commotion was about, he was nervous about doing it but he quickly scooped up Lori in his arms and used his super speed to take her back to his loft at the barn. Clark knew it would be better to have to explain himself only to her instead of all of them Queen Industry executives.

"How did you do that" asked Lori in a bit of shock. Clark gave her a worried look and he knew he would have some explaining to do.

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As Oliver was looking around wondering who set all of these fires at his festival, his executives left their tent to also look around, Suddenly Oliver could see that there were men unconscious laying around in the field close to the street. Oliver had no idea what was going on but he called the cops. About 5 minutes later the cops showed up and arrested the unconscious men, if for nothing else because they all had heavy weaponry at a public park.

"Do you know any of these men" asked an officer named Dan Turpin

"No, I have never seen any of them before" Oliver replied. He did wonder if this had anything to do with the two men he hired to kidnap Lex, but he knew he obviously could not tell the cops about that.

"Any idea why there would be armed men at a festival, or how all of these armed men wound up unconscious" asked Turpin, who was amazed that 12 men, 10 of which were armed were all unconscious in a field.

"I don't what is going on Officer, I was in my tent with my executives getting ready to give a speech, I walked out and noticed several of the booths on fire, the crowd had ran away and then I Looked around and saw the men on the ground, then I called Metropolis finest" Oliver replied with the last part a bit sarcastic hoping to ease the situation a bit. Dan Turpin was not amused by Oliver Queen, nor was he happy that now there were reporters starting to show up, No doubt to get the story on what happened here today, Turpin thought to himself. Turpin just hoped that they would not get in the way of the investigation or ask him any question, Turpin hated being asked questions by reporters.

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Chloe and jimmy showed up on the scene after reports came in of fires breaking out at the Celtic festival at Centennial park.

"This is crazy Chloe, fires do not just randomly break out, and what is the deal with the police scanners saying they have 12 unconscious men in custody, it makes no sense". Chloe didn't know what to make of this either and she replied

"I don't know jimmy, We won't know anything until the men wake up, but we can at least get some interviews while were here". Jimmy nodded his head at his beautiful blond girlfriend and replied

"you get the interviews, and I'll take some pictures" Chloe nodded her head loving the enthusiasm that Jimmy showed for his work.

Chloe then approached Officer Dan Turpin whom had just finished talking to Oliver and she asked

"What happened here today officer"? Dan Turpin wasn't happy about being asked questions, especially before any real investigation could begin so he replied rather rudely

"Investigation is ongoing, please get out of the way and do not interfere". Chloe backed off feeling rather annoyed at the tone of the Officer and she looked around saw the booths burned and she thought about the fact that there were numerous armed men knocked out with no explanation and she thought to herself

"Clark, it has to be but why". Chloe texted and called Clark a few times but he didn't answer so she decided that she was going to drive out to the farm to question him herself.

"Maybe he was busy with something else" she thought to herself.

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Clark was nervous because he now had to tell Lori his secret,

"How did you do that" Lori asked trying to remain calm, Clark looked at her and nervously replied

"I'm different Lori, I have powers, and I meant to tell you but I was worried and" Lori cut him off and gave him a compassionate and understanding smile and said

"It's Ok Clark I'm different to, remember when I told you my father left when I was younger, it was because when I was a kid he was giving me a bath, the water transformed me… into a mermaid, I received that part of myself from my mother, Of course my father didn't know that about my mother or me and he freaked out and left" Lori said hoping that major confession wouldn't scare Clark away giving him a worried look hoping that he would accept her.

Clark gave her a loving look and replied

"It would take a lot more than that to scare me away Lori" Clark replied giving Lori the most loving look with his blue eyes. Lori was so touched by what Clark had said and she could see the love and compassion coming from his eyes, though neither of them had said it yet they could feel each other falling in love.

"So what powers do you have, and where do they come from" Lori asked curious about her boyfriend.

"I'm not from smallville, I'm not even from this planet" replied Clark seeing a shocked expression on Lori's face so he further explained

"I come from a planet called krypton, my parents sent me here before Krypton was destroyed, I'm the last of my kind" replied Clark. Lori was shocked she could hardly come up with the words to describe how amazing this was, Lori then replied

"Wow Clark that is amazing, I know you have speed, and I could guess that somehow you set those booths on fire but what other powers do you have". Clark smiled and replied

"Well I have Invulnerability, Super strength, super speed, Heat vision, X-ray vision, Super healing, Super stamina, I have super dexterity, super breath, I can leap great distances, I can hold my breath for a very long time, I don't forget anything, I believe I can make my breath colder but I haven't really tried it yet, and I will be able to fly, oh yeah and super hearing and sonar hearing, there may be more but those are all the main ones that I know about" Clark then gave Lori a nervous look hoping that all of the powers didn't scare her away.

Lori was speechless and she gave Clark a look of amazement and disbelief, she believed Clark, she just had never met anyone with such power, let alone such a good and compassionate person. All she could say was

"Wow Clark, this is all so amazing, you're amazing, and to be honest I have felt something ever since I met you and I think maybe it was destiny we meet" Clark smiled and kisses Lori and after a passionate kiss Clark replied

"I think we were destined to meet to, let me take you to the kitchen and get you something to drink, we can talk some more" Lori smiled and replied

"That would be great". Holding each other's hand they walked out of the barn and into the kitchen where they would each get a drink and continue to open up about their lives.

Authors note: Hope your all enjoying the story. Reviews and suggestions always welcomed


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

As Clark and Lori were talking about their lives, they felt comfortable, and that was something that was refreshing for Clark, he never really felt comfortable talking about his life, even with his mom. Clark could tell when he talked to his mom about his alien heritage that she was uncomfortable because she didn't always know what to say or how to respond.

"Growing up on a farm must have been so much fun" Said Lori with brightness on her beautiful face. The both of them got a glass of lemonade and sat on the couch.

"It was fun, my dad and I used to ride around on the tractor, I remember when I was a kid, I would sit on his lap and he would let me drive" Clark replied recalling happy moments from his childhood but feeling a little sad because he missed his father. Lori thought to herself about the childhood she had and with a sad tone replied

"After my father left my mother was depressed, she was that way for a long time, and between her sadness over him leaving and the fact that I'm a mermaid, she was always so stressed about people finding out about me". Clark gave her a look of understanding and it made him appreciate his own parents even more.

"My parents stressed out about people finding out about me to, They always worried that if people found out then scientists or the government would come take me away". Lori understood exactly what Clark meant because she knew her own mother had similar fears, Lori replied

"My mother feared the same thing, she felt that if people found out about me being a mermaid, then I would never be able to have a normal happy life". Clark felt so connected with Lori because it seemed like they had to deal with many of the same issues growing up and Clark hadn't met many people that were even close to being like him and it brought Clark some comfort to have someone he could open up to that really could understand him. Clark was thankful for the friends he had, but he could never really open up to them about himself because they could never really understand him.

"I think my parents weren't sure if I could ever really have a normal happy life, I think they believed I was sent here for a reason so they knew that I could never really have a normal life, but they always told me I would find someone whom I could truly be with and they were right" Clark said giving Lori the most loving look, Lori felt so happy by what Clark had just said and she started crying a few tears of joy and she replied

"Well Clark Kent, I have found someone that I can be with to" and after she said that she jumped on Clark and started kissing him. Clark laid back on the couch and wrapped his arms around Lori as they were kissing. Lori than raised her body up and started to take off Clark's shirt. Clark smiled seductively and finished taking his shirt off.

They then continued to kiss passionately on the couch, Lori then took off her shirt and leaned forward to kiss Clarks neck and ears, Clark felt like he was in heaven but he needed to slow things down a little, Clark wasn't ready to go all the way

"Lori, I'm not ready for that part of our relationship" Clark managed to say despite the pleasure flowing through his body. Clark didn't want to jump into a sexual relationship because he wasn't sure he could do that without hurting his partner.

"Why babe" replied Clark curious as to why he didn't want to have sex with her. Clark didn't know how to explain this but he would try to anyway

"Because I'm still learning how to control all of my powers and I have never done that with my powers" replied Clark hoping that she would understand.

"We can wait Clark, Its ok if we wait" replied Lori hoping to make Clark feel more comfortable with the situation. Clark was thankful to hear that, He wanted to make sure he was in full control of his powers before he entered into that kind of relationship.

"Thank you Lori, I just want to make sure that I don't hurt you" Replied Clark glad that she understood why he didn't want to take that step. Lori absolutely loved the fact that Clark was so considerate of her and she was happy that she finally found a good man that respected and cared for her and she responded

"How about we just lay here and take a nice nap". Clark smiled and he loved the idea and he responded

"That would be great Lori". With that said they both laid on the couch and fell asleep with Lori wrapped up in Clarks arms. Clark knew it was ok because his mother was in Topeka doing some state senator business.

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Martha and Lois, her assistant were currently heading home after finishing up early in Topeka. Martha was looking forward to seeing Clark since she had been gone for the last few days and Lois was hoping to see her boyfriend Oliver after being gone and helping Martha. Lois knew that Oliver was a part of an incident at Centennial Park in metropolis earlier today and she wanted to know what happened.

Lois had heard on the radio about an incident that had happened at Centennial park in Metropolis where there were apparently 12 unconscious men and most of them were heavily armed. Lois also knew that Oliver was hosting a festival there today and she wondered if the men that were unconscious were there for Oliver. Oliver had called her earlier to let her know that he was safe for which Lois was thankful.

Martha was looking forward to seeing Clark but she also wanted to know if the events that happened at the festival had anything to do with him, she knew that he was at the festival with a girl that he had been talking to at college named Lori. Martha wasn't sure if her son was ready for a relationship and she wondered if Clark truly knew what he was doing by getting into a new relationship, Martha wanted her sons feelings to be safe and he didn't want what happened between Clark and Lana to happen again with another woman.

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Lana was currently waiting on Chloe to come pick her up at the mansion, after what happened at the Celtic festival earlier today with spontaneous fires breaking out she felt that it was important now more than ever for them to be ready just in case there was another threat to humanity out there and she wanted to go to the Kent farm to talk to Martha Kent in the hopes that maybe they could discuss a plan to deal with future threats as well as hopefully garner her support for doing more research into people with powers. Lana thought that maybe Clark would be busy doing something else, farm chores or maybe school work and hopefully he wouldn't be there to cause any awkward tension between them.

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Chloe was on her way to the Kent farm in the hopes of talking with Clark about finding out what happened at the festival today at Centennial Park. She got a call from Lana asking her to pick her up in order to go to the Kent farm as well since Chloe was already going there so it made sense to just save a trip which is what Lana told Chloe on the phone so Chloe reluctantly agree. Chloe was hoping to talk to Clark alone but she couldn't very well tell Lana no without it looking suspicious. Chloe stopped at the mansion and picked up Lana and now they were both on their way to the Kent farm

"Thanks Chloe" said Lana with a grateful look on her face.

"No problem Lana" replied Chloe trying not to sound worried about what could potentially happen. Chloe was curious about the situation and asked with a questioning tone

"So why do you want to go the Kent farm"? Lana looked at her with determination on her face and replied

"After what happened at Centennial Park and all that has been happening lately, humans need to ready for any potential threats, So I want to talk to Mrs. Kent about making some plans to protect people from super powered threats". Chloe was now worried because she didn't know how to respond to that, A part of her wanted to keeps Clarks secret safe and for him to be safe, But after so many years of meteor infected people causing damage and hurting people and even killing people and after seeing what Zod was capable of she found herself agreeing with Lana a little.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

As Chloe and Lana neared the farm they were both a bit anxious for different reasons. Chloe was anxious to find out what happened at the festival earlier in the day and Lana was anxious because she hoped that Mrs. Kent would give her the support she was looking for to prepare some sort of defense in case the world was attacked again by a super powered being and she was also nervous because she was worried that she may see Clark again and that would be awkward.

Chloe and Lana were getting close to the Kent farm and they noticed that behind was a there was a vehicle and it was Martha and Lois. When they reached the farm they pulled in and parked and waited for Martha and Lois to pull in and park as well. The two girls got out of their car and waited for Martha, and within a minute they pulled into the Kent farm as well.

"Lana, Chloe, What brings you two ladies out here today" Asked Martha with a warm smile on her face

"I was just hoping to talk to you about some proposals I have" replied Lana,

"And I was just hoping to talk to Clark" replied Chloe a little nervously, she wondered if he was there because she didn't see his truck parked there. Lois was happy to see her cousin and a little happy to see Lana, Though Lois did wonder why Lana was there. Lois thought that maybe Lana wanted to do more than just talk about business or political proposals.

"Well ladies how about we all go into the house and have a cold drink, it's been a long day" Replied Martha giving the 3 younger woman a motherly smile.

The 4 women walked into the house and what they saw shocked all of them, Clark Kent with no shirt on and only jeans with a beautiful woman laying on him wearing only a bra and her jeans.

"Clark, Clark wake up" said Martha unsure of how to handle this situation. Lori woke up first and Clark was a little slow to wake up and he simply yawned barely awake and Lori woke up and saw the 4 women staring wide eyed at them and she was a little embarrassed and Lori said

"Clark, babe wake up, there are 4 women staring at us" Lori said to Clark embarrassed by this situation. Lois, Chloe, and Lana all felt jealousy enter through them, even though they all had boyfriends, they still all felt a special connection with Clark and they weren't too happy with this Beautiful tall brunette woman laying on a half-naked Clark.

Clark heard what Lori was saying to him and his response was

"What…Oh huh well that could be an issue" Clark replied nervously and shyly. Lori stood up from the couch and stared at the 4 women nervously and Clark stood up from the couch and gave the 4 women a very shy look

"Hi mom, Lois, Chloe, Lana, this is Lori" Clark said trying to give a small nervous spy

"Hi, it's nice to meet all of you" Lori said hoping to ease the tension in the room.

Martha was staring at the young woman and wondering what exactly was going on and how this situation came about and Lois, Chloe, and Lana were staring at the muscular physique of Clark Kent admiring his perfect 6 pack abs and trying not to blush at the current situation since all 3 of their minds were enjoying this view of Clark, but at the same time were jealous of this woman.

"It's nice to meet you" said Chloe with an awkward smile

"wow you look great" replied Lois hoping she didn't sound too jealous saying that

"you two look great together" replied Lana with a fake smile trying to hide a scowl.

"I'm just going to go upstairs and put on one of Clarks shirts" Lori said trying just to get out of the room

"One of my old football jerseys is in the bottom drawer" responded Clark to Lori with a small smile on his face

"Ok" responded Lori very quickly and with that she ran upstairs. Lois, Chloe, and Lana all gave Lori a small angry glare as she went upstairs and felt a bit more jealousy when Clark mentioned she could wear one of his old jerseys. Clark just smiled and watched her walk up the stairs

As soon as Lori was gone all 4 women looked at Clark waiting for an explanation

"So, What was up with the whole half naked on the couch thing smallville" asked Lois a little irritated with the fact she felt jealousy.

"This isn't like you Clark, are you feeling ok" Asked Martha wondering if her son was potentially on red kryptonite since that was the only time he ever really acted this way with women". Clark looked at all 4 of them and simply smiled and replied

"Everyone calm down, her name is Lori Lemaris, I go to class with her, She is my girlfriend". Clark smiled at that last part because it sounded amazing to say it out loud. Lana felt the situation was too awkward she felt herself becoming angry with this Lori, how could Clark move on so quickly from her, how come Clark was willing to be with Lori but yet push her away, Lana was upset about this and she needed to get out of there so she said

"Well I should get out of here, Got a lot of things to take care of" She left before anyone could say a word. Clark was confused as to why Lana looked upset when she left, After all Clark knew that Lana was with Lex and it seemed confusing that Lana would be upset that he had a new girlfriend, especially considering how she spoke to him when he went to the mansion trying to find Lex.

Martha wasn't sure how she felt about this situation but she decided that she wasn't going to dig any further into it, at least for the moment.

"Lois how about we get together tomorrow and discuss our plans for next week's state senator meeting" Martha said to her young assistant whom she considered to be like a daughter.

"That would be great Mrs. K, don't forget we have Lex's charity ball coming up in a few days". Martha gave Lois a smile because she loved how enthusiastic about the job Lois was and she responded

"I know Lois, now go home and get some rest" Lois nodded her head and replied

"Thanks Mrs. K, see you tomorrow". Lois then left the house and went home. Clark, Martha, and Chloe then set at the dining room table and drank some Lemonade, It was at that moment that Lori came down the stairs, wearing Clarks jersey. Clark smiled at his beautiful girlfriend and said

"Lori, This is my mother, and my best friend Chloe, the woman that was standing by my mother was Lois, and the other woman was Lana". Lori looked at Martha and Chloe and smiled and stuck her hand out to shake their hands and said

"It's nice to meet the two of you, Clark has told me about how much he loved his mother" Lori said hoping to impress Clarks mother and make a good first impression, or at least a good second impression considering how awkward the first impression was.

"Clark told me that he was talking to a woman in college, he just didn't tell me you would be this beautiful" Martha said starting to like Lori and the manners that Lori was showing.

"Thank you Mrs. Kent, that was really nice of you to say" Said Lori with a smile to Martha. Lori than turned to Chloe and asked

"So how long have you and Clark known each other"? Chloe gave a small smile and replied fondly

"Since the 8th grade, It's been about 7 years since we started being friends". Lori thought about that and thought it was really sweet, Lori never really had friends like that, she was always moving around from place to place with her mom and she never really had the chance to settle down and make friends like Clark had.

"Wow, that's a really long time, that's pretty special" replied Lori with a friendly smile. Clark just sat in his seat in silence and let the 3 women talk to each other, he was just glad that the awkwardness of earlier was gone and now Lori could now have the chance to get to know his mother and Chloe. Clark hoped that maybe she would also get the chance to get to know Lois, he was nervous about letting her get to know Lana because Lana was now close to Lex and Clark realized that he can never let Lex find out that Lori is a mermaid, Clark didn't know what he would do if Lori ever got hurt by him.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It had been a few days since Chloe had met Lori, Chloe really liked her and thought that she was a good match for Clark, she may have been a bit jealous but she was happy that Clark had found someone. Clark had managed to go back to the park in the middle of the night and drive his truck back home without it looking suspicious. Since Clark used his super speed to take Lori back to the farm the day of the festival he had left his truck there by accident.

In the few days that have gone by since the incident at the festival Clark and Lori had been enjoying their time in college and just enjoying their time together. Everyone was getting ready for the charity ball that Lex was hosting in order to raise funds for victims of dark Thursday, not that Clark really trusted Lex's good intentions, Clark thought it was only a ploy to gain sympathy and support from the public. Clark was doing very well in all of his classes with straight A's across the board and he was really happy with the way things were going, his favorite class was world history since that had Lori in it and his favorite professor Joseph willowbrook.

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"What the hell were you doing there" asked Dan Turpin to captain Smith, the leader of the men that tried to attack the festival. Turpin and the cops had been trying to interrogate the men that were arrested at the festival but they were having no luck because none of them were saying anything helpful

"Go to hell" replied Captain Smith with an arrogant grin knowing that the police were getting know where with their interrogation.

"Who are you working for" Asked Turpin getting more and more pissed off.

"Wouldn't you like to know, shouldn't you be eating some doughnuts and drinking some coffee" replied Captain Smith loving the fact that he was getting under the officers skin. Suddenly a fellow police officer walked into the interrogation room and whispered something into Dan Turpin's ear, Turpin then gave a small cocky grin to smith and said

"You don't have to say anything, we managed to trace the serial numbers off of those guns to A business... Security Services, perhaps you've heard of it". Turpin loved the fact that he was able to turn the tables of this investigation, and he loved the look of fear that now spread across Smith's face.

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"What makes her so much better than me" Lana thought to herself, "Why is he willing to be with her but not me". Lana was confused and hurt by the fact that Clark now had a new woman in his life. Lana was in the mansion watching people put of directions for the charity ball they were hosting the next night. Lana thought that there was more to the story and she wanted to find out.

"Why is he even in my mind" Lana thought to herself referring to Clark, She couldn't stop thinking about him and what she saw just a few days earlier in the Kent household.

"He was holding him in his arms, and he was happy, why couldn't he be that way with me" Lana thought to herself. These thoughts kept entering her mind and it was taking over her thoughts. She thought that she had moved on and was now happy with Lex, but she couldn't move on with her life with thoughts of Clark inside her head.

"I thought helping Lex to protect the world would be enough, But now I just want to know more about Clark" Lana thought to herself. Lana knew that Clark had saved her life many times and she always wondered how and the more she thought about it the more she wondered to herself

"What if the person whom is responsible for Dark Thursday cleanup, putting out the fire at the warehouse, and the armed men getting arrested at the festival in Metropolis…What if it's Clark". Lana thought the idea was crazy but perhaps possible, She now more than ever wanted to know the mystery of Clark Kent, and of his new girlfriend Lori. Lana got an angry scowl on her face and thought to herself

"She isn't better than me".

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Oliver was wondering what was going on lately, Lex having powers that he used to terrorize the world and then those powers mysteriously disappearing, The two men he hired to kidnap Lex mysteriously disappearing, and now armed men miraculously knocked out with no explanation, and of course fires that started with no explanation.

Oliver knew that he was going to have to figure out what was going on and he knew that soon it would be time to put on his costume and go out and find out some answers. Oliver had his scientists create a green outfit as well as various bows and arrows as well as other gadgets that Oliver was going to use to try and fight crime. His first order of business was going to be to find out what was going on with all the strange events that was happening lately.

He would start on the very next evening at Lex's Charity ball, maybe there he could figure out some answers he thought to himself. He was going to the ball with his new girlfriend Lois Lane, he knew that Martha Kent, the state senator that he just gave his support to was going to the ball with Lionel Luthor, he also knew that she would probably be wearing a necklace that Lionel Luthor stole from an old Scottish castle, he figured it would be a good time to take it back. Oliver knew that this would be the perfect time to perhaps get some answers for himself and maybe figure out what was going on.

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Chloe was with her boyfriend Jimmy Olsen at make out point, A local place that was in a field and off the beaten path where couples would go to make out. Chloe was happy to be spending time with her boyfriend since they were often busy with their jobs.

"I'm glad we managed get together tonight" Jimmy said with a grin on his face.

"Me to, It's good to see you" replied Chloe with an affectionate smile, looking forward to a nice evening with Jimmy.

"You look so beautiful tonight Chloe, I'm such a lucky guy" replied Jimmy with such warmth for his girlfriend. Chloe smiled at the flirtatious words that Jimmy had said and replied

"You look really handsome tonight yourself Jimmy". The two of them then started kissing and enjoying the evening. Then suddenly they heard something hit the back of their car.

"Did you hear that" Chloe asked worried about the fact that they heard a mysterious sound late at night in a field.

"Yeah I did Chloe, stay here, I'm going to check it out" Jimmy replied hoping to keep his girlfriend safe.

"I'm not letting you go alone" Chloe replied with concern in her voice. They both got out of the car and what they saw behind their car shocked them and it scared them.

"My god" Chloe said frightened by what she was seeing.

"Freaky" Jimmy said wanting to get the hell out of there. What they were staring at was not normal, It was a man that looked like he had the life sucked out of him, It looked like all that was left was bones, some skin, and horrified eyes. Chloe and Jimmy looked at the man and they both thought to themselves how horrible this situation was and they both felt sympathy for the poor man.

"It looks like something sucked his organs out of his body" Jimmy said wanting to get Chloe and himself out of there.

"Let's get out of here Jimmy" Chloe said wanting to keep Jimmy safe. They both got into the car and drove off as quickly as possible.

"I'm going to have to tell Clark about this" Chloe thought to herself.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

It was the very next morning, Clark and Chloe were at make out point investigating the scene, and the cops were also there investigating since after Chloe had called Clark, she also decided to call the cops.

"So tell me exactly what you found Chloe" Clark said hoping to find out what happened thinking that maybe there was a meteor freak on the loose.

"It was a dead man that looked like his insides were sucked out somehow, it looked horrible Clark, Straight from a horror movie" Chloe replied still horrified by the thought the dead man that her and Jimmy had saw.

"It sounds like something… or someone somehow fed on him" Clark replied trying to think of all the likely scenarios of what had happened.

"That's horrible Clark, It just looked like such a horrible way to die" Chloe replied terrified by the thought that there was something out there feeding on the insides of human beings.

Clark thought about it and the more he thought about it the more he realized that whatever would probably be living in the surrounding woods, Clark realized that if there was a creature feeding on people then it would want to stay in this area since people come out here late at night and since it wasn't a populated area it would be easy for something to devour its pray. Clark took all this in stride and he realized he had to stop this thing, whatever it was as soon as possible; too many lives were at stake.

"Chloe, I want you to stay here around the police, I am going to investigate the woods and see what I can find" Clark said knowing that his friend would be safer around the policeman investigating the scene.

"Please Clark just be careful, this thing may be able to hurt you" Chloe replied worried about the safety of her best friend.

"I'll be fine Chloe" Clark replied, and after he said that he started walking into the woods.

Clark walked a few feet into the woods and used his X-ray vision

"Nothing, nothing but animals, trees, and bushes" Clark thought to himself. Clark walked around some more and he started to notice more and more dead animals. He would see a dead coyote, walk a few feet and then see a dead bird, walk a few more feet and then see a dead raccoon. Clark looked at the animals as he saw them and he noticed that their eyes were all open and they all looked to be in a state of shock when they died

"Just like the man Chloe told me she found last night" Clark thought to himself. Clark then tried using his X-ray vision again but once again nothing.

"Whatever did this is either gone or immune somehow to my X-ray vision" Clark thought to himself. Clark thought about maybe using heat vision in the woods to try and drive whatever was doing this out of hiding but doing that would cause environmental damage as well as kill many creatures living in those woods and Clark didn't want to cause that.

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At the luthor mansion last minute decorations were being put up for the charity ball that would be happening that evening and Lex and Lana were overseeing the crew putting up the decorations.

"How do you feel about Caesar and Cleopatra" Lex asked to Lana with a smile on his face wanting to make sure that she liked their costumes for the ball.

"I think they look just fine" Lana replied with a smile trying to hide her thoughts and trying not to let Lex see her distracted by her thoughts of Clark and Lori.

"You seem distracted" replied Lex seeing that something was going on inside the head of his girlfriend.

"It's nothing Lex, just hoping that tonight goes well" replied Lana hoping that would be enough to convince Lex. Lex smiled and Lana walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders in a reassuring way and replied

"Everything will go well tonight Lana there is absolutely nothing to worry about…nothing at all" and after he said that they shared a small kiss.

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Clark had been in the woods for roughly an hour with no sign of a creature that apparently can literally suck the life and organs out of living beings.

"Perhaps if I try to focus my X-ray vision a little harder" Clark thought to himself. Clark then decided to use his X-ray vision again but with no luck, but he didn't give up he focused harder trying to find something out there that could explain what was happening.

Suddenly his X-ray vision changed, He was seeing different colors, he was seeing heat signatures from living creatures, he was seeing radio waves in the air, he was seeing different colors appear almost randomly.

"What going on, It like my X-ray vision was somehow… emitting different waves" Clark thought to himself.

"It's like my eyes were seeing and emitting different waves from the electromagnetic spectrum, almost like I was emitting a particular wave in order to actually see that wave, I saw radio waves, my eyes must have some emitted radio waves in order for me to see them" Clark thought to himself. Clark was confused about this new power, he had no idea how to control it, but he knew he had to somehow.

"If this creature is somehow immune to my X-ray vision, then I have to find it using a different wave from the electromagnetic spectrum, If I can control this power and emit thermal waves instead of X-ray, then maybe I can pick up its heat signature, if it has one" Clark thought to himself. Clark hoped this would work too many lives were at stake for him to fail.

Clark once again used his X-ray vision and focused but this time he focused slowly and tried to concentrate. The colors and wave changes still happened but this time much more slowly and within a few seconds Clarks eyed were emitting thermal waves which allowed him to see living creature's heat signatures. He looked around and he saw off in the distance a heat signature that looked like a woman, Clark was now worried about the woman

"She could be in danger" Clark thought to himself. Clark then used his superspeed to catch up to the woman and he decided to start walking out of the woods without his superspeed that way he wouldn't startle the woman. Clark could immediately tell from being behind her that she was wearing a park ranger uniform and he could tell the woman was attractive.

"Hi, it's a nice day isn't it" Clark said just wanting to say something normal that wouldn't startle the woman

"Yes it is, what are you doing out here all alone, there is an investigation going on and these woods are not safe" The woman replied wondering what this boy was doing out here all alone.

"I'm sorry I was with a friend of mine, and I got lost and I was trying to find my way back maam" Clark said hoping he didn't sound too suspicious. The woman smiled a bit flirtatiously at Clark and responded

"It's ok handsome, call me Gloria". Clark blushed a little, Gloria was attractive but Lori was his girlfriend and he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that.

"Hello Gloria" Clark said smiling trying to be polite

"So what do you think is happening out here, it seems horrifying" Clark said thinking maybe he could get some answers.

"I think that there is a creature out here that is somehow sucking the life right out of the living" Gloria responded trying to hide a smirk that was almost forming on her face

"And it doesn't seem like anything can stop it" Gloria finished saying. Gloria then looked deep into Clarks eyes and she realized that she recognized him. It made sense to her now why he would be the one out here and how he could find her.

"He must be the son of Jor-El, he has powers here of some kind" Gloria thought to herself. Then Gloria realized something

"He is the one that freed me from the phantom zone". Gloria now realized that if she could destroy him then there would be nothing left to stop her from absorbing all the life on this planet


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Gloria smiled to herself because she realized that the son of Jor- el, Kal-el, was her only obstacle in absorbing all life on this planet and growing even stronger.

"I'm sorry I interrupted your investigation, I'll get out of your way now" Clark said hoping that he had not caused the park ranger much trouble. Clark then turned around to walk away and Gloria's face now showed an evil smirk

"Not so fast" Gloria thought to herself. Vines then came up out of the earth and wrapped onto Clark's ankles and his legs.

"What is going on? Why can't I pull away from this" Clark yelled out loud.

"Because I won't let you Kryptonian" Gloria said with an evil smile on her face that showed Clark her true colors.

"You're it aren't you? You're the creature that sucked the life out of that man last night, you're the one that has been sucking the life out of the wild life in this park" Clark said now angry that he didn't realize it sooner.

"You got it right son of Jor-el, You're probably wondering why you can't pull yourself away from the vines aren't you"?

"The thought had crossed my mind" Clark replied sarcastically not wanting to give this creature the satisfaction of seeing him concerned.

"Don't bother trying, The vines I produce are alien to this world, They are my perfect predators, the more you try to pull away, the tighter the bonds become" Gloria said feeling like she had won.

"Why are you doing this?" Clark asked now completely bound to a wall of vines behind him by more vines in front of his, he could barely move at all.

"Simple kryptonian, survival, You see I survive by sucking the life out of the living, Its why I was sent to the phantom zone".

"Wait a minute you were in the phantom zone?" Clark asked realizing now that this was not a meteor freak… but in fact another alien.

"Yes I was, but thanks to you Kryptonian I was set free, I should be thanking you because without you I would not have the chance to suck the energy dry from this planet" Gloria said with an evil smirk that enraged Clark.

"Why do you want to suck the life out of the entire planet?" Clark asked hoping to gather as much intelligence as he could on the situation.

"My planet, Zeltan 4 was once a natural paradise with so much beautiful nature, but soon industry came and killed all of that nature resulting in a drastic loss of life, I was chosen to be given powers by scientist there that would give me control over plants and vines and would allow me to suck the life out of the living, so that I could give that energy back to Zeltan 4, Like I said kryptonian survival". Clark heard all of this and he knew he had to stop this beast or else all life on earth would be destroyed.

"I won't let you kill all life on this planet" Clark said with a look of determination in his voice that surprised Gloria given the current situation that the Kryptonian found himself in.

"You're not in any position to stop me kryptonian, my vines may not be able to suck the life out of you, but they will devour all of these weak pathetic humans, I think I'll start with a gathering that is happening tonight, I believe the humans call it a charity ball" Gloria said with evil intentions in her voice.

"NO, STAY DON'T HURT ANY OF THEM" Clark yelled trying to think of how he would get out of this situation. Gloria just laughed at the Kryptonian in an evil way that made Clarks stomach turn with anger.

"Goodbye foolish kryptonian, thanks for freeing me" Gloria said with a triumphant smirk and with that said she turned and walked away laughing while she did.

Clark could see that Gloria was now gone and he had to think of a way to get himself out of this situation.

"I can at least move my head some" Clark thought to himself. Clark then looked down and used his heat vision to try and burn the vines, the velocity of the heat vision scorched the vines and cut through them.

"Yes it works" Clark thought to himself, unfortunately the vines that were burned or cut immediately grew back like they had never been burned or cut at all

"Darn it" Clark said out loud in frustration. Clark then tried using his new power of seeing the electromagnetic spectrum

"I can' control which waves I emit yet but, if I can maybe find a wave in the EMP that hurts the vines perhaps that could free me" Clark thought to himself. Clark tried for 10 minutes focusing on every Wave in the EMP he could but the vines were not affected at all.

"I have an idea, This could work" Clark thought to himself.

Clark looked up as much as he could and he started heating his eyes up, within a minute his eyes were up to lava like temperatures and climbing.

"perhaps a focused heat blast would do it" Clark thought to himself hoping his plan would free him. Clark gathered more heat to the point where his eyes were now much much hotter that lava and the heat had gathered in his eyes like a blast of energy.

Clark then let out a ball of massive heat energy from his eyes with much velocity into the air and then as soon as the ball of heat energy had traveled into the air 10 feet Clark sucked in all the air he could like a vacuum causing the ball of heat energy to come back at him striking the vines and causing a good sized explosion destroying the vines and releasing Clark.

Clark broke free but then suddenly remnants of the vines that had been destroyed started to grow back luckily before they could try to trap him again Clark turned around with amazing speed and used his ice breath to freeze what was left of the vines in place. Clark looked at the frozen vines and was happy that he could freeze things.

"I thought that maybe my breath had the power to freeze, with my lungs compressing the air I suck in and by focusing I can make my breath super cold and control how cold it is" Clark thought to himself thankful that he realized he could have this power and thankful it came in handy at the right time.

"Now I have to stop that creature" Clark thought to himself with determination on his face.

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Chloe and Jimmy were at Smallville medical center and Chloe was talking to one of the doctors about the man that her and Jimmy had found at make out point the night before.

"Can you give me any answers on what could have caused this" Chloe asked hoping that the doctor she was talking to could give her some answers for the story she was going to write about the incident.

"It's completely unexplainable, we have never seen anything like this before, his organs were sucked out" The doctor replied hoping the young reporter would stop asking questions.

"Is there anything else you can tell me?" asked Chloe wanting to finish up her questioning

"The body upon examination had tiny particles which appear to be vines stuck on his body, they were preventing us from doing an autopsy, The only thing that got them off was a defibulator, somehow the electricity destroyed the particles allowing us to complete the autopsy" The doctor replied hoping that would be all.

"Thank you for that doctor" Chloe replied gratefully. Chloe then walked away and she realized that Electricity must be this things kryptonite, whatever it is

"I have to let Clark know about this" Chloe thought to herself. She then sent Clark a text saying

Electricity is its weakness.

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Lori was worried about Clark she had not heard from his all day and she was worried so she drove from herm house out to the Kent farm to see if he was there but he wasn't and she grew even more worried. She checked his loft but he wasn't there so she walked out of the barn to go to her car because maybe he would be at the Talon.

"There better be a good reason that your worrying me Clark Kent" Lori thought to herself, suddenly a voice from behind her said

"Hi Lori, how are you" Lori turned around and could see Martha and Lori smiled and replied

"Hi Mrs. Kent, I was just hear looking for Clark, I haven't heard from him today and I was worried". Martha could see that Lori was worried and so was Martha because she had not heard from Clark all day either

"I'm worried about him to Lori, but I'm sure he is just fine" Martha said trying to make Lori and herself feel better.

"I hope so Mrs. Kent, I really care about him" Lori replied back with concern showing on her face. Martha suddenly had an idea, one that would hopefully make Lori feel better

"Why don't you come to the charity ball with Lionel and me tonight" Martha asked with a smile hoping to make Lori feel better

"I'm sure Clark is fine and it will give you something fun to do" Martha said hoping to make Lori feel a little better. Lori was not sure about it so she asked

"Are you sure I wouldn't be intruding?" Lori wasn't sure about this

"No sweetie you won't be intruding, I think it would be great to get to know the woman my son is dating better" Martha replied with an affectionate smile

"OK Mrs. Kent I would love to go" replied Lori whom was grateful for the chance to get to know Mrs. Kent better


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

As soon as Clark was free from the deadly vines he realized that his phone went off and he pulled it out of his pocket and checked it. It was from Chloe

"Electricity is its weakness" The message said and Clark knew exactly what she meant

"Thank you Chloe" Clark thought to himself.

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The ball was going quite well, Lex was with Lana, Oliver was with Lois, And Lori was with Martha and Lionel.

"The ball seems to be going well" Lex said to Lana hoping she would share in his joy. Lana was trying to have fun but she still couldn't get over her thoughts of Clark and miss perfect Lori.

"What makes her so special?" Lana thought to herself not realizing Lex had just spoken to her.

"Lana, are you Ok?" Lex asked realizing that Lana was distracted by something.

"Yeah Lex, I'm great, just hoping that tonight goes smoothly" Lana replied not wanting Lex to know what was really on her mind.

"It's just that you seem distracted tonight" Lex replied not completely buying her answer. Lana was about to reply when Oliver and Lois walked up to them

"Hello Lex" Oliver said not even trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice

"Hello Oliver, I Hope you're enjoying the evening" Lex replied recognizing Oliver Queen, Lex hated Oliver because Oliver used to bully Lex when they went to boarding school back at Excelsior prep.

"Wow so you two both know each other?" asked Lois wondering what was going on with the two men

"Let's just say we went to school together Lois" replied Oliver not wanting to dive too far into his history with Lex.

"Have a nice evening Oliver" replied Lex whom wanted to take Lana and get away from Oliver because Lex hated the sight of him.

"And look you're with a woman you don't have to prop up" Oliver said to Lex knowing that would piss him off. Lex was now upset and wanted to punch Oliver right in his face but he controlled himself and replied

"You never grow up do you? You were an asshole back then and your still an asshole now" hoping that would shut the pompous looking face of Oliver. Lana now was pulling on Lex wanting to get him away from there before any more of a scene was caused because Lana didn't want this to become an embarrassing situation that would ruin the evening and Lois was pulling back on Oliver wanting him not to cause a scene.

"At least I didn't almost destroy the world" replied Oliver whom was upset by what Lex had just said.

"Stop Oliver, Let's just enjoy the evening" Lois said concerned about Oliver potentially causing a scene. Lana was pulling Lex away when Lex heard what Oliver had just said and he responded

"Go to hell Oliver" and then he walked away. Lex and Lana then were away from what had just happened and they stopped at a punch bowl to get a drink and so that Lex could cool down.

"What was that about Lex?" asked Lana wondering why that had just happened.

"I'm sorry Lana, Oliver and I have history together, he was a bully to me when we went to school" replied Lex remembering all the times that Oliver bullied him.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Oliver seems like a jerk to me" replied Lana hoping to calm Lex down.

"He is a jerk Lana, let's enjoy our evening. No more talk of him" replied Lex hoping to spend the rest of the evening with Lana and forget what just happened:

"That would be great Lex" replied Lana with a smile glad that Lex had calmed down.

"Alright Oliver what was that about?" asked Lois to her boyfriend curious about why he almost fought Lex

"We went to school together Lois, we don't have a good history" replied Oliver remembering his old days back at school.

"I figured that out by the fact you two almost went fisticuffs on the dance floor" replied Lois with sarcasm "What I don't get is why all the pent up animosity? You two were in school years ago?" asked Lois still curious as to why they almost fought.

"I have seen a darker side to him Lois, I don't trust him" replied Oliver hoping that would stop the discussion so they could continue to enjoy their time together "Let's just enjoy the rest of the night Lois, I don't want to talk about him anymore" Oliver replied with a small smile hoping to be done with the subject.

"Then let's dance" Lois replied with an understanding look on her face.

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Lori, Martha and Lionel were all mingling and talking with people and enjoying the night at least Lori and Martha were trying to enjoy the night, they were both worried about Clark.

"Where could he be Mrs. Kent, I'm scared" Lori said with obvious concern on her face, wishing that Clark were with her at that moment.

"I'm sure he is fine, probably just busy doing school work or something" replied Martha trying to sound convincing to Lori though Martha knew better, she knew Clark was probably busy stopping some bad guy or he was saving someone and Martha worried about Clark, Martha was worried that one of those times that Clark went out to stop the bad guy or save the day that he wouldn't survive. Martha also didn't realize that Lori knew Clarks secret so she wanted to cover for Clark.

"He would have said something to me by now Mrs. Kent, this isn't like him" replied Lori whom now was really scared for her boyfriend.

"Try to relax Lori, Clark cares about you and I'm sure there is a reason why he hasn't contacted you today" replied Martha wanting to show Lori some motherly warmth and make her feel better about the situation.

"I'll try to stay calm Mrs. Kent" replied Lori even though she knew she wasn't going to be able to be calm without seeing Clark.

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Clark saw the text that Chloe sent him when he freed himself from the vines so he immediately sent her a text back

"Chloe, creature headed for charity ball warn them, I'll stop it"

Clark immediately started running through scenarios in his head of how he could possibly stop the creature. Clark knew that he needed to create a large volt of electricity and he was thinking of how he could accomplish this.

"I have an idea, It could work" Clark thought to himself hoping that what he had planned would stop the creature.

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Gloria had roamed through the woods and now right outside Lex's mansion and she was right by his greenhouse which grew the mansions more exotic plants. Gloria was going to suck the life out of everyone at the charity ball and then she was going to start sucking the life out of the rest of the humans on this planet.

"I will destroy you all" Gloria thought to herself as she approached the mansion. She ripped the door to the greenhouse off of its hinges and entered it.

"Soon I will have sucked out enough life to return to Zeltan 4, and bring life back to my home planet" Gloria thought to herself.

"And when I do bring life back to Zeltan 4, I will rule it forever and nothing will be able to stop me" Gloria thought to herself with thoughts of grandeur and power running through her head. Gloria then stood in the middle of the greenhouse and closed her eyes and she began to focus her power.

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Lex and Lana were dancing

"You look so beautiful tonight" Lex said with a charming smile to his girlfriend

"You look really handsome yourself" replied Lana with a smile on her face.

Oliver and Lois were dancing

"I'm glad I asked you on a date Lois" Oliver said with a charming smile

"I'm glad that I said yes Oliver" replied Lois with a beautiful smile of her own.

Martha and Lionel were dancing

"You look so lovely tonight Martha" Said Lionel with his usual billionaire confidence

"Thank you Lionel, this has been a really nice evening" replied Martha with a grateful smile. Lori was by herself at the punchbowl stand. Then suddenly the room began to shake like an earthquake. Everyone started to scream and they were all afraid for their lives because the floor was cracking up and the ceiling was also cracking up, there was nowhere to run.

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Gloria stood there with an evil crazed look in her eyes as her face became evilly distorted and she thought to herself

"YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE"


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The ceiling of the Charity ball was starting to crumble because Gloria was using her powers to cause the building to shake and the ground was breaking and pieces of the ceiling started falling down.

"Everyone get out of here" yelled Oliver, people were screaming in terror for their lives

"The doors are being held shut, they can't be opened" yelled Lionel trying to get one of the doors opened. Lex saw his dad struggling to get the door open and he said in a frantic tone

"Hold on dad let me help you" Both Lex and Lionel tried breaking the door down to no avail and then Oliver noticed them trying to break the door down but unfortunately all 3 of them together could not get the door open. There was another door that other guests were trying to get open but they too were failing to get their door open.

Vines were blocking the doors from being opened and they were trapping the guests inside, Gloria was making sure they could not escape so that her vines could suck out all the life out the guests at the party.

"OH MY GOD THERE ARE VINES COMING UP THROUGH THE GROUND" Screamed Lana whom was now scared for her life.

"EVERYONE GET READY IT LOOKS LIKE THEY'RE ABOUT TO ATTACK" screamed Lois.

Martha and Lori were trying to help people escape from the attacking vines as well as trying to avoid the killer vines themselves but both were coincidentally thinking the exact same thing to themselves

"Please get here Clark, you're our only hope".

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Clark was using his super-speed to run to the mansion and try to stop Gloria, as he was running he activated his super- hearing to try and find Gloria but his sonar hearing kicked in and he saw in his mind all of the guests of the party fighting for their lives against the killer vines.

"I have to save them, the vines will kill them all if I don't" Clark thought to himself.

Clark immediately raced toward the ball room and when he was inside he saw the vines covering a door, he quickly used his heat vision to blast the vines off of the door. And then he used his super breath to blow the vines away from the door sending them down the hallway.

Clark then with amazing speed pulled the door off of its hinges and he could see in his own extremely slow motion time Lex, Lionel, and Oliver Queen trying to get the door open that he just ripped off. Clark then raced past them quicker than any human eye could possibly see, Clark estimated that he was moving at least half the speed of light, Clark could see the vines coming out of the ground and he quickly ran around the room freezing them into place.

Clark could also see debris from the ceiling coming down about to hit people so he raced and grabbed people that were about to get hit and he raced them into the hallway away from the killer vines. Clark also noticed Lois and Lana about to be attacked by the killer vines so Clark froze the vines in place and quickly picked up both of them and rushed them into the hallway with the rest of the people he just saved, he was doing all of this in using his super-speed and everyone was frozen in place.

Clark looked around the room and he could see his mom and Lori holding each other waiting to be attacked so Clark used his speed and pulled the vines out of the ground and sent a blast of heat vision through the ground burning the vines that were about to attack his mother and Lori, he then rushed them out into the hallway and put them down in a safe place.

Clark then quickly checked the room and he could see that everyone was out of the ball room; he then stood in the doorway in front of all of the people he had just saved that were in the hallway. He could see the vines still trying to come through the door. Clark then used his heat vision to liquefy the dance floor so that it would turn into lava and completely melt the vines; he then used his ice breath to freeze the ground solidifying the lava that he made. Clark knew that was enough to stop any vines from coming up through the ground because the lava melted them completely, and his ice breath would make sure that the ground was now safe for the people to walk on.

Clark realized now that he had to quickly find Gloria and stop her because the entire planet was at stake and Clark could not allow anyone else to die because of a phantom that he had set free.

Clark then raced away from the hallway and he used his sonar hearing to see that Gloria was in the greenhouse.

"I will stop you, no matter what" Clark thought to himself

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All of the people Clark just saved were in shock and had no idea what just happened,

"How is this possible?" Asked Lex to anyone around him

"I don't know, I was about to be attacked by a vine and then suddenly I'm out here" replied Lana trying to make sense of this situation.

"I was trying to get the door open, and then I'm out here door opened, and were all safe" Oliver said with shock in his voice. People were hugging each other and thanking god out loud at the fact that their lives were just saved. People in the hallway started calling it a miracle and many of them were in tears.

"The clean up after dark Thursday, the fire that got put out, the save at the festival the other day, there has to be somebody responsible for all of it" Lois said to the people standing around her. Lori remained quiet because she wanted to protect Clarks secret, though she was so amazed that Clark managed to save them all, she knew it just had to be him. Martha heard what everyone was saying and she wanted to protect Clark to so she tried to play along to throw off any suspicion

"It must have been a miracle everyone, we should all be thankful were still alive" Martha said with a bright smile hoping to not seem suspicious or seem like she was hiding something.

"There had to be someone responsible for this" Oliver said now determined to find out what was going on and to find out who saved their lives.

"For once we agree Oliver" replied Lex with a serious tone "Everything that has happened lately can't be a coincidence, There is someone out there with powers and whoever it is could be a threat to humanity" Lois rolled her eyes at Lex because she couldn't believe what he heard him just say.

"Are you serious Lex, whoever this person is saved both you and Lana from the warehouse fire" Lex looked at her with a serious expression and replied somewhat angrily

"Yeah today whoever is out there is playing a hero, but what about if they decide not to, we have to be ready Lois in case this thing attacks us, the human race has to be ready". Lori wanted to punch Lex right in his face for what he was saying about Clark, he may not have known it was Clark, but she still wanted to punch him. Martha was trying to think of the right thing to say and she was having difficult time thinking because her thoughts were running wild.

"Lex is right Lois, This being with powers may have saved us today but remember Dark Thursday, if a being with powers does attack the human race, we have to be ready". Lois didn't like what Lana had just said but she to remembered the horrible events of Dark Thursday and she was a military brat so Lois understood the importance of being ready in case people needed to be defended.

"Look I agree we have to be ready, It may be a being with good intent, but if it were to snap or get angry we would have to be ready" replied Oliver hating to agree with Lex. Lionel was just staying silent holding Martha's hand trying to keep her comfortable.

"We should be ready, but we shouldn't try to hurt it unless it gives us a reason to have to defend ourselves" Lois said realizing that they needed to protect themselves even if she did hate the idea that they were arming themselves against a being that just saved their life.

One thing was for sure everyone whose life was just saved was in awe of the power that saved them, some feared it, some had hope in their heart, but one thing was for sure none of them knew what was going to happen next.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Clark had saved everyone at the ball and he raced away from there using his ability to now see different waves from the electromagnetic spectrum and his super hearing to pin point Gloria's location.

"She is in the greenhouse" Clark thought to himself. In less than a second he raced into the green house and he snatched Gloria and raced her to a field far away from where people lived, he knew he could battle her here and no civilians would be hurt.

"You think you stopped me kryptonian? I'll destroy you and then go back and finish off all of those people" Gloria said laughing an evil laugh. Clark couldn't help but grin

"You couldn't destroy me before and you can't destroy me now, those vines trapped me but they couldn't suck the life out of me like they can the others, I'm a bit different aren't I Gloria?" Clark replied with a confident almost sinister tone. Gloria hated to admit it but the kryptonian was right, if her vines could have killed him, they would have.

"It doesn't matter kryptonian, I'll trap you with so many vines you'll never be able to escape" Clark laughed at her

"Haha, I don't think so" Gloria let out an evil growl and sneer

"WE'LL SEE YOU FOOL" yelled Gloria and then suddenly vines started coming up through the field all around the open space vines were coming up through the ground. Clark only smirked and he stood in place. Clark quickly activated his heat vision too an extremely hot temperature and spun his body around at almost the speed of light completely scorching the field and melting all of her vines. Gloria was furious

"NO, HOW COULD YOU?" Gloria screamed. Clark gave a confident grin

"Easy, I tried blasting them before and they grew back, I realized that I had to melt them completely to make sure they didn't grow back".

"I HATE YOU KRYPTONIAN" Gloria yelled. Clark didn't care that he made an evil creature who just tried to kill innocent people angry and he raised his voice in anger.

"YOU COME HERE AND TRY TO KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE, I'M NOT GOING TO ALLOW IT" Clark yelled which took Gloria by surprise and also scared her a bit.

Clark then proceeded to run around Gloria extremely fast which caused a tornado to circle around Gloria at crazy speeds, Clark then started firing small shots of his heat vision into the tornado causing it to heat up.

"If electricity is its weakness, then mixing heat with kinetic energy should produce lightning" Clark thought to himself. Gloria tried to escape but the wind was too strong, and then she tried to call upon more vines to come attack but the ground was too scorched for them to come up, she was trapped and she knew it, for the first time she experienced true fear at the hands of the kryptonian.

"What is he, how can he produce this much power" Gloria thought to herself in her final moments.

Clark noticed that lighting strikes were now coming from the tornado and they were striking Gloria and he could see that she was slowly disappearing so he increased his speed further literally setting the ground on fire at intensity of the speed he was going. Lightning strikes came more suddenly from the tornado finally destroying Gloria and saving the planet. When Clark realized she was destroyed he stopped running. He looked around at the field that was destroyed, he thought about the saves at the charity ball and finally he thought about the new powers he had gained recently

"I'm becoming more powerful, almost week by week" Clark thought to himself. Clark surveyed the destruction some more and he thought to himself

"I have to be careful". Clark then text his mom and Lori and he let them know that he was ok even though he realized they probably already knew he was ok, he figured it was still the right thing to do to let them know. He then went home

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Clark was in the kitchen when Lori and his mother got home from the ball. Both of them looked at him knowing it was him who saved everyone but Lori wasn't sure if she should tell Mrs. Kent that she knew Clark's secret and Martha didn't know that Lori already knew.

"Mom there is something I have to tell you, actually a lot of things" Martha looked at her son both with love and gratefulness, and with awe because she had never seen him use his powers like that before.

"What is it Clark?" Martha asked curious with Lori standing by her wondering what Clark was about to say.

"I told Lori my secret" Clark said with a firm voice, Martha was very surprised and so was Lori.

"How much did you tell her Clark?" asked Martha concerned about too many people knowing Clark's secret.

"I told her almost everything mom, my powers, krypton, being the last of my kind, all the major stuff" Clark said with a small smile realizing just how crazy his life was. Martha then looked over at Lori

"How do you feel about all of this" Martha asked hoping that Lori would be ok with it since she was really liking Lori being with Clark.

"I'm great with it Mrs. Kent, I think Clark is totally amazing" Lori then looked over at Clark and said

"It was you that saved everyone at the charity ball, that was extraordinary Clark".

"Thank you Clark, you saved everyone but people were scared and shocked by what happened, you showed so much power tonight and with so many people around they didn't know how to explain it, it shook them…to their core" Martha said to her son worried that his recent saves would land her son too far into the public eye.

"What was that thing?" Lori asked remembering the horrible vines that came up out of the ground. Clark looked at her remembering the events of the evening himself and he replied

"It was a phantom Lori, from a place called the phantom zone, I was sent there once right before Dark Thursday".

Martha looked at her son and she could see that he was feeling guilty, she could see the guilt in his eyes but she could also see something else, a new strength in his heart and his soul. Martha could tell by looking at Clark that more was going on with him then he was letting on, she knew by looking at him that something had changed within her son, she could tell it by the look in his eyes and his amazing display of his powers earlier in the evening.

Martha was worried that maybe after all the time he spent feeling alone, and all the time he spent feeling guilty that maybe something had cracked in him, that maybe there was something underneath the surface that wanted to take over. Martha had seen a determination in Clark since the events of Dark Thursday that surprised her and worried her, he was using his powers in a way now that wasn't so secretive and she knew especially after the way she heard Lois, Lex, Lana, and Oliver talk tonight that people were going to catch on that there was a being with super powers out there. Martha was worried for her son for many reasons.

"What's the phantom zone, and how were you sent there?" Lori asked wondering what was going on. Clark understood that there would be a lot of questions, and he was ok with that, he loved Lori and he wanted to be honest with her

"The phantom zone is place for alien criminals to be sent to, an enemy of mine named Zod sent me there so that he could try to conquer the earth" Clark said knowing how insane this all would sound to someone.

Lori was amazed at what she just heard, but she was still curious to know more about the man she loved.

"Who is Zod, and how did this phantom escape" Lori asked curious about her boyfriend and about the whole situation. Clark realized that there would be a lot of questions to answer and a lot of explaining to do. Clark just hoped that by the end of it he wouldn't scare Lori away, he loved her and he couldn't stand the thought of losing her.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Clark knew that explaining everything to Lori was going to strange, he only hoped that she would understand but he knew that in order for their relationship to work he was going to have to be completely honest with her.

"Let's go to the living room Lori, we can sit down and I'll tell you everything you want to know" Lori smiled at Clark thankful for the fact that he was willing to be honest and open with her, she knew that it would be difficult for Clark to be open with people, and she appreciated him even more for trusting her with his secret life. They walked over to the couch holding each other's hand, Martha walked upstairs to her room feeling that this should be a private moment for the young couple.

Both Lori and Clark sat down on the couch and Clark took a deep breath hoping that Lori would be ok with all the craziness he was about to explain.

"Zod is a kryptonian criminal, he was the worst kryptonian criminal in its history, he destroyed krypton by destroying its core" Lori was listening to all of this and she felt bad for Clark, losing a whole planet and being an outsider on another planet just because some madman blew up his home world, Lori could tell by the look in Clark's face that his life on this planet sometimes felt like an odyssey and she loved him even more because of it. Clark continued to tell the story to Lori

"Zod was sent to the phantom zone before Krypton was destroyed, he had a kryptonian machine working for him that managed to make it to earth, it was called the brain interactive construct, it had two missions, absorb all knowledge on the planet and free Zod from the phantom zone" Lori was taking this all in and she realized how crazy it all was and if it was crazy for her, how crazy was it for Clark to actually have to deal with all of this first hand. Clark continued the story

"The short name for the machine is brainiac, brainiac tried to use me as a vessel for Zod but it failed to do so, it then decided to use Lex as the vessel for Zod, Lex got my powers and I had two choices, Kill Lex or use a dagger on Brainiac that would release a portal for Zod to possess Lex". Lori knew which option Clark took by just knowing him, he wasn't a killer, it wasn't in him and she knew it and she loved him for it.

"How hard that must have been" Lori thought to herself hearing Clark tell the story

"I would never want to be in that position" Lori thought to herself thinking about the difficult choice Clark had to make. Clark continued the story

"I ended up destroying Brainiac with the dagger, the portal opened up and Zod possessed Lex, Zod then used a kryptonian crystal to send me to the phantom zone, trapping me there, When I was there I was saved by a friend of my father's, her name was Raya, we fought phantoms together in order to survive, she had a crystal my father gave her, his name was Jor-el". Lori heard all this and she was amazed, this story was amazing and she realized how amazing Clark is and how much he had to go through during this whole ordeal. Clark continued the story

"Raya showed me a portal that Jor-el built for me to escape just in case that I was ever sent to the phantom zone, I used my blood to open it up, we were attacked by phantoms and It seems that the phantom that I faced tonight escaped when I did, I don't know how many more escaped" Clark was finished with the story and he prayed in his heart that Lori would be able to handle all of this.

"If you want to leave me Lori I understand, I know this is a lot to take in".

Lori looked at him saddened by what he just said because she could tell by the way he said it how alone he must have felt at times. Lori looked at him with all the love in her heart and said

"I love you Clark Kent, I will never leave you Clark, you're a great man, and I'll stand by you no matter what". Clark was taken aback why what she said, he was happy and surprised at the same time, he was so happy to hear her say that and tears started coming down from his eyes because he felt he finally found the one that he could truly be with. The tears came down from Clarks eyes because he could finally feel all the years of loneliness and sadness that he had kept in his heart for so long washing away.

Lori could see the tears coming down from Clark's eyes and Lori started crying a little as well because seeing Clark cry showed Lori just how much he had suffered carrying this burden his whole life. Lori reached over and started kissing the tears on Clark's face as Clark held her close in his arms. They held each other in a loving embrace because they knew at that moment they were truly in love with each other. The tears flowed down both of their faces at this point and they were kissing the tears off of each other's faces.

Clark laid back on the couch holding Lori in his arms and he said in the most loving tone that Lori had ever heard

"I love you Lori Lemaris" Lori smiled loving the feel of Clark's arms wrapped around her body and she replied

"I love you to Clark Kent" They then looked at each other with love in their eyes and they kissed passionately with their tongues slowly exploring each other's mouths. They continued to lie on the couch kissing each other passionately for the rest of the night.

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Lex and Lana were at the mansion with the events of the evening still running through their minds.

"How can something be that powerful Lex?" asked Lana still amazed by what happened. Lex had an angry look on his face, he hated that there was some super powered being out there running around unchecked.

"I don't know Lana, but whoever it is needs to be kept in check, it's only a matter of time before whoever this being is starts using their power to attack humanity, we have seen it before, every being with powers we have ever met has been trouble for us" Lex replied with a bit of anger in his voice, Lex was somewhat jealous of whomever this was

"It's too much power for anyone" Lex thought to himself". Lana looked at Lex and she thought that to some extent Lex was right, this being hadn't done anything wrong yet, but that could change.

"We have to find out who it is Lex, we have to be ready for the day when whoever this is decides to use their power for something else other than saving people". Lex looked at Lana and was glad that they were on the same page

"I think we should launch a full investigation to find whomever this creature is, I think that it is someone close to Smallville, it makes the most sense, The warehouse fire, the festival, and now the charity ball tonight, it has to be someone close to Smallville" Lex said hoping that they could find whomever it was running around with powers unchecked. Lana looked at Lex and she sensed that perhaps Lex was a bit envious of someone with so much power but she didn't say anything because she didn't want to anger him, Lana replied to Lex with a worried look

"Do you have a plan Lex?" Lex looked back at Lana with a serious look and replied

"I think we need to build an army, an army of beings with powers, powers from meteor freaks, we can then use that army to catch whoever this person is". Lana didn't like the idea of exploiting people with powers but she wanted to keep humanity safe and she realized that this may be the only way to do it so she just nodded her head up and down and she replied

"It may be the only way to protect ourselves Lex, let's build an army to protect humanity".


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

It had been a few days since the events that happened at the charity ball and since Clark's battle with Gloria. Clark knew that other phantoms probably escaped from the phantom zone as well but he had no way of tracking them down.

Clark and Lori were walking the halls of college holding hands, they were with their new friend that they had been talking with for a few days and her name was Xiulan jao, she was a asian woman whom was 22 years old, she stood at 5 ft 7 inches, had brunette hair and brown eyes. Her family was from China and she was a foreign student taking classes in the U.S because she came from a wealthy family.

"It must be pretty amazing to be from another country and to be taking classes here" Lori said with a bright smile as they were walking the halls. Xiulan was a bit embarassed and she responded

"I am only getting this opportunity because my father is a wealthy man". Clark gave Xiulan his farmboy smile and replied

"Your really smart straight A's across the board I say you deserve to be in college and you have earned it". Xiulan smiled at her two new friends, she liked them because they didn't treat her differently like some of the other students did and they never gave her strange looks like some of the other students did.

Of course Xiulan didn't want to tell anyone the real reason why she was attending college in America, so she kept it a secret.

"What do you think this pep rally is for?" asked Clark to the two ladies a bit curious as to why a pep rally was being called.

"Apparently Central Kansas A & M has had extremely high scores this year and the school is getting extra grant money from the state" Lori said with a cheerful smile.

"I am looking forward to it, I have never been to a pep rally before" Xiulan said enthused about attending one. Lori smiled at her new friend which made Xiulan happy to have her as a friend and she replied

"Dont' get too excited, it's just a bunch of screaming and a lot of loud noise". Clark laughed at his girlfriend and her banter and responded

"True but they can also be fun sometimes, I bet Xiulan will enjoy it". All 3 of them went outside and joined the other students outside on a field that the college often used for events that they held, there was a podium set up where the dean of the school would make his speech.

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John braxton a mercenary hired by Intergang, whom worked for their company security services was waiting on the rooftop of the school with a high caliber sniper rifle ready to kill his target...Xiulan Jao. He didn't know why he was killing her and he didn't ask questions he just killed whom Intergang wanted him to and he got paid he didn't ask any questions.

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It was about noon in the afternoon and Clark, Lori and Xiulan had found a place to stand and they waited for the speech to begin. Clark whisperd in Lori's ear

"With all the craziness the last few days I hope this goes well" Lori knew what he meant and whispered in his ear

"I'm sure it will go just fine, not everything has to go wrong around here..I hope". Clark smiled at his Beautiful girlfriend and whispered in her ear

"Maybe if everything goes well you can come over to the farm for dinner, we also have a hose to cool down if it gets too hot". Lori smiled flirtaitously at Clark and whispered back in his ear

"I would love that babe, I would have to cool you down with the hose too". Clark was enjoying this flirtation and he whispered back with a grin

"You will need to bring a bathing suit if we start playing with the farm hose". Lori grinned and replied knowing she would get to blush

"Why should I bring a bathing suit, I was thinking of wearing something a little more revealing". Lori was right Clark blushed a lot and she loved it.

"The pep rally is about to start" Xiulan said breaking the two of them out of their flirtatious banter.

The dean then took to the podium and began his speech to get the students to cheer and get them riled up for the pep rally.

John Braxton was getting ready to take his shot on the perch that he chose on top of the school, he had Xiulan in his sights and he was ready to take his shot. John then pulled the triggure taking the shot.

Clark's Sonar hearing kicked in and he immediately could tell that a bullet had been fired by a sniper on a perch on the roof of the school, he used his super speed to look around and he could see the bullet heading for Xiulan so he quickly grabbed her and took her to the ground causing the bullet to miss and hit the field which they were standing on.

The crowd of student began to scatter at the sound of the gun shot and they all were fleeing for their lives wondering if there would be anymore. John quickly got up used a the ladder he climbed up to get down from the roof.

"What was that" yelled Lori afraid of the situation,

"Watch Xiulan, she was the target, I'll go get the shooter" said Clark with determination on his face. He quickly walked away leaving Lori to hold a scared Xiulan.

Clark used his super hearing as he was walking away to detect that the shooter was climbing down a ladder at the other end of the school. When the coast was clear he used his super speed to go to the other side of the school and wait for the shooter to come down.

"I can't believe I missed that bitch" John said outloud as he got down from the ladder. Clark suddenly appeared and grabbed him and held him against the wall and said with an angry voice and eyes that would scare anyone

"That woman is a friend of mine and she is innocent". When he said that he shoved the shooter up against the wall knocking him out and he called the police to make sure they would come to the right spot and arrest the perpetrator.

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Clark, Lori, and Xiulan were at the police station giving their statements about what happened. The shooter was still knocked out cold, and Clark knew that he had nothing to worry about because all he did was knock the guy out which could be explained without having to mention his powers.

"Who do you think he is?" asked Lori to both Clark and Xiulan wondering what was going on and why this person tried to kill Xiulan.

"I don't know who he is, but Xiulan I know that bullet was meant for you". Xiulan gave Clark a small grateful smile for him saving her though she was still very scared for her life as it seems her past had now followed her hear to her present.

"I don't know who it was, but thank you so much Clark, you have amazing reflexes" Xiulan said. Clark knew that whomever the shooter is was probably hired by somebody and that he was hired to kill Xiulan and he was going to figure out who hired him and why.

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Dan Turpin was on his way to Smallville to pick up the gunman that tried to kill one of the students at Central Kansas A & M. He wondered if this person really worked for securtiy services which he was thinking was just a cover up company.

"There is more to this than meets the eye" Dan thought to himself and he was going to get to the bottom of it.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Clark, Lori, and Xiulan were sitting at the Talon after they had gave their statements and they were discussing the events that had happened earlier in the day.

"Why do you think he tried to shoot you?" Clark asked as compassionately as he could. Xiulan was uncomfortable about the situation but she wanted to be honest with her two new friends.

"It's a bit of a long story" Xiulan said wondering if they would still want to know. Lori looked at her compassionately and replied

"We have plenty of time". Xiulan looked at both of them and nodded her head and she began the story

"It started six months ago in Hong Kong, in China, It was a dark and stormy night and I was walking the streets with some friends of mine" Clark and Lori were listening intently.

"We were walking along when suddenly a van pulled up and some men got out of the van and attacked us, we were no match for them any they managed to throw us in the back of the van". Clark and Lori were shocked to hear this story and how it was going so far,

"We were all tied up and thrown into a room, I heard a man's voice outside the room talking about selling us to the highest bidder". Clark and Lori were disgusted that people would do such a horrible thing,

"My father had his private security force track us down using video footage catching the licence plate number of the van, His security force had got there but by the time they did it was too late, my friends had been sold and I was the last one to go". Clark felt his anger boiling thinking about the monsters that would sell other living people

"Why were they selling you?" asked Clark. Xiulan looked at both Clark and Lori and she could see the kindness and sympathy in their eyes and she could see some anger in Clark's and she replied

"Human sex trafficking, the people who kidnap me sell young women to the highest bidders so that they can make a profit, I only escaped because of my father, when I did escape my father sent me to school here thinking I would be safe but I guess he was wrong" Xiulan now had tears in her eyes. Lori got up from her seat and she gave Xiulan a hug and said with kindness

"You will be safe, we will find out who did this and we will stop them". Clark was so angry thinking about monsters that would do this to young women that he wanted to do some serious damage but he controlled himself.

"Do you think you can really stop whomever is coming after me?" asked Xiulan hoping her new friends would be able to help. Clark stood up and looked at Xiulan right in the eye with determination and said

"Count on it, you will be safe here".

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"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR NAME" yelled Turpin to the shooter wanting to get some answers from him. John Braxton looked at him and laughed and said

"I ain't telling you a damn thing". Turpin wanted to slap the arrogant look right off of his face but then he decided he would try a bluff and he said

"fine, maybe your friends at security services can give me some answers, they might be more helpful". For a split second Braxton looked scared and then he regained his composure and said

"I don't know what you're talking about". Turpin knew from the look that the shooter had on his face that he had at least heard of security services and may even work for them.

"I will get to the bottom of this and you're not going anywhere" Turpin said with resolve in his voice.

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"Mom, we have to stop these people" Clark said to his mother with Lori by his side, Xiulan was upstairs getting comfortable since Clark and Martha decided she could stay there until she was safe.

"I don't know what to tell you Clark, I am only a state senator, my reach doesn't go that high" Martha replied feeling terrible that she couldn't do more.

"We have to do something to stop this, It's just to horrible to think about a group selling people" Lori said with a few tears coming from her eyes thinking about what all of those innocent women must have gone through.

"Mom, they are selling people, Its human sex trafficking and it has to be stopped" Clark said with anger starting to boil up inside of him.

"I know it does sweety, but my power only goes so far" Martha said with a worried look on her face wondering how far Clark was going to go with this.

"We have to find out who is doing this and stop it" Clark said determined to stop such an evil practice. Suddenly Xiulan's voice came from the stairs and she said

"We are going to have to talk to my father than". Clark looked at Xiulan and asked

"How exactly can he help?". Xiulan looked at Clark and Lori and replied

"He has the resources to find out whom these people are and how to find them, he is trying to do it now but they have managed to stay hidden". Clark hoped that her father could help

"They won't stay hidden for long" Clark thought to himself. Martha could see the determination on Clark's face and she said

"Clark may I speak to you alone please, sorry Lori and Xiulan but I need to speak to my son alone". Clark and Martha then walked outside and Martha gave her son a stern and somewhat angry look and she said

"Clark if you go up against these people you will be going up against other countries and their laws, this is a lot bigger than Smallville son". Clark looked at her and replied with seriousness in his eyes and determination in his voice

"I have to mom, these kind of atrocities have to be stopped". Martha looked at her son with love but she knew he had to be careful and she replied

"I know it's horrible to sell people for profit, but if you get involved with this you could cross a line from helping people to enforcing your will, your powers have been growing lately and I can tell you have become more powerful, just don't let that power go to your head son". Clark looked at his mother surprised that she thought he would cross that line and he replied

"Mom I'm not here to enforce my rule over the world, I am here to help it, it's what you and dad raised me to do". Martha knew that Clark meant well but she also knew that if he went up against these people he would be crossing the line from small town protector to worldly savior and she prayed that he was ready for that.

"Just be careful son I love you" Martha said to Clark. Clark gave her a hug and said

"I love you to mom"


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Clark walked into the kitchen after having the conversation with his mother and he was met by Lori, Who said to him in a low but determined voice with a serious expression on her face

"I'm coming with you Clark, I can help". Lori knew that Xiulan was upstairs so now would be the best time to have this conversation. Clark looked at her worried and replied

"These are dangerous people I don't want you getting hurt". Lori looked at her boyfriend straight in his blue eyes that she loved and replied

"I have powers to, I'm helping you take these people down". Clark was surprised by her revelation and responded

"You have powers?, What are they and are you sure you want to come with me?". Lori responded knowing even though she wasn't as powerful as Clark that she could still help him

"I have hydrokinesis, I'm strong, fast, and I have great reflexes". Clark looked at her with worry on his face and replied

"alright if you want to come with me it's your right, but please stay close to me, I don't want to lose you Lori". Lori nodded her head in agreement and reached up and gave Clark a kiss because she knew they were partners, and she knew that he loved her and that she loved him.

Xiulan came down the stairs with her bags packed and ready to go and she looked at the two of them kissing and said

"Let's get going, my father has a private plane at the Topeka airport, we can use it to go to Hong Kong". Both Clark and Lori nodded their head and they left with Xiulan to head to the airport and Martha stood on the porch and watched them leave praying she knew what her son was getting himself into.

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Lex and Lana were walking into the lab because Lex wanted to show her something that his scientists had been working on

"Do you really think this will protect us from super powered threats?" Lana asked curious if this new invention would really be able to help them. Lex smiled at the genius that had been invented by his company knowing that it would make him millions and solidify his name forever

"Yes this new invention will defintely help protect us from super powered beings". Lana looked at Lex curious as they both stood by a closed door and Lana asked

"What is behind the door Lex". Lex looked at her and responded

"our salvation" Lex then opened the door and it revealed a metal frame work body with a green armor suit around it like it was a person wearing it.

"It's a Luthorcorp battlesuit" Lex said to Lana noticing how she looked impressed at the suit.

"What is it? How does it work?" Lana asked shocked to see such an impressive suit. Lex smirked arrogantly and said

"That suit has DNA from various meteor freaks we have encountered giving the wearer powers and the abilities needed to fight off threats to humanity, Luthorcorp will be making more of them". Lana looked on baffled knowing that suit she was looking at may be the answer that humanity was looking for just in case this super powered being that had been around recently ever turned out to be a threat or a menace.

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Clark, Lori, and Xiulan arrived at the airport and they loaded onto the private plane owned by Xiulan's father.

"Wow this plane is nice" Lori said looking around the plane taking in the scenes of the fancy plane.

"It's pretty luxurious, my father is a rich man, it makes him and his family members a target". Clark looked around the plane but his mind was focused on two things: keeping Lori safe, and stopping the human trafficers.

"How long do you think the flight will be Xiulan" asked Clark. Xiulan looked at him and replied

"right around sixteen hours, it will be awhile, if you want my father has a library of books to read in the back of the plane, it has everything from chinese culture, to history of kung-Fu, my father believes in keeping knowledge at hand". Lori looked at her surprised and replied

"That is pretty amazing Xiulan, I got to admit this plane is amazing, I can't wait to see where he lives". Xiulan smiled and responded

"Yes, it is a big mansion on a big hill". Clark looked at Xiulan and asked

"Can I go back to that library and do some reading". Xiulan nodded her head yes, Lori got up and walked with Clark noticing the look of determination on his face and she grabbed his wrist lightly and said

"We will stop these people, everything will be alright" Lori then gave him a soft kiss on the lips. Clark smiled at his loving girlfriend and said

"I know we will". Lori then turned around and took a seat knowing that Clark was feeling better because of the look on his face and Clark walked back to the library and he noticed at least a hundred books on the shelf. He then proceeded to use his super speed to read every single book in less that two minutes, Clark now knew all about chinese culture and customs, he felt ready for this new challenge.

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Oliver knew that there was a super powered being out there with incredible power and he knew that humanity needed to be ready for it. Oliver decided that the best course of action would be to get his team together. Victor stone, Bart Allen, and Arthur Curry.

Oliver called a meeting with the four of them to discuss this super powered being hoping that his super powered friends and himself could be ready just in case it attacked.

"It scorched the entire room, destroyed all of the attacking vines, got all of us out of the room, and froze the room, it did all of this so fast that no one noticed it" Oliver said to his three friends

at his apartment.

Victor, Bart, and Arthur all had a pretty good idea of whom it was that saved everybody but they didn't want to say anything about him so that they could protect his secret.

"You should be happy this being saved all of you bro" Arthur said with his usual cocky grin, Victor looked at Oliver and could notice the worry on his face and he said

"Why are you so worried? I think if it wanted to do harm it would have". Bart smiled and replied

"Yeah Oliver chill out man". Oliver looked at them with surprise on his face and replied

"Guys this thing whatever it is, is a powerhouse, we have to be ready in case it turns out to be a threat". Bart looked at him and chuckled and replied

"Him a threat, no way he is a cool dude". Victor and Arthur both gave Bart an annoyed look and Oliver grinned and said

"He is a cool dude? Sounds like you know him Bart, In fact all three of you have been to Smallville before, Why don't you three tell me about this cool dude" Oliver knew the three were covering for someone and he wanted to know who.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"Who is he?" Oliver asked irritated that his team wouldn't give to him the answers he was was looking for. Arthur looked at him and he didn't know what to do, he wanted to be loyal to Clark but at the same time he wanted to be a good team player. Bart knew that Oliver meant well but he wasn't sure whether or not he should tell Oliver about Clark or not and Victor felt the same confusion in his heart as the other two.

"He is a good guy" Bart said to Oliver hoping to calm him down, Oliver looked at Bart annoyed and responded

"I have never seen anyone use the kind of power that he has and we need to be ready just in case he turns out to be not such a good guy, so please guys tell me who he is".

Arthur, Bart, and Victor all looked at each other and nodded in agreement, Bart then spoke up and said

"His name is Clark Kent"

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"Who are the battle suits being made for?" asked Lana wondering who Lex would allow to use the suits. Lex smiled somewhat sinisterly and replied

"All of the world's militaries are going to want to buy these suits, Luthorcorp will make millions maybe even billions off these suits and whomever this super powered being is will not be able to get past these suits if he or she decides to attack humanity". Lana smiled and she knew that Lex had come up with an invention taht would indeed be able to protect humanity.

"Now that we have a way to defend ourselves, we now need to find out who this person is" Lana said knowing that the task may not be easy but knowing that they needed to do it anyway.

"We will Lana, We will find out who it is, and if they don't listen to reason, they will be stopped" Lex said with evil thoughts running through his head.

Lana wanted to make sure that earth remained safe and she didn't trust anyone with special powers because she has had plenty of bad experiences with people with special abilities and she trusted Lex and the battle suits to protect earth.

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"What is his weakness?, He has to have one" Oliver asked hoping that he could get the information that he wanted. Arthur and Victor looked at each other with confusion on their faces because they didn't know if Clark had a weakness or not. Bart had a look of worry on his face because he knew that Clark had a weakness and he knew what it was.

Oliver stared at the three of them intenly and he could tell by the look on Bart's face that he knew What this Clark Kent's weakness was and Oliver needed to know it to because he knew it may be their only hope of protecting earth.

"Bart, What is it? Whats the weakness?" Oliver asked hoping that Bart would give him the information he it necessary to have.

"I'm not saying, he is a good guy and it wouldn't be right to tell what his weakness is". Oliver decided to try and persuade Bart another way and he replied calmly

"If he is a good guy, then he has nothing to worry about if you tell me his weakness, I wouldn't use it unless he turned out to be a threat". Bart looked at Oliver and he wanted to be loyal to Clark but he wanted to be loyal to Oliver as well and he replied

"His weakness is meteor rock, the green meteor rock found in Smallville". Oliver smiled and looked at the three of them and replied

"Thanks guys, your loyalty to me means a lot" Oliver knew now what he had to do, he was going to collect the meteor rock just in case this Clark Kent turned out to be a threat to all of them.

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Clark, Lori, and Xiulan could see the beautiful city of Hong Kong as the plane made its landing on the airport, it was night time and the city had such beautiful lights Clark noted to himself. Clark with a greater understanding of Chinese culture knew that he had to be careful of his actions so that he wouldn't offend anyone.

"How far does you father live away from here?" Lori asked wondering how much further the journey would be. Xiulan looked at her with an understanding look and replied

"It's about an hour drive up into the hills where my father's mansion is". Lori was excited at the idea that she was going to be able to walk around in a mansion. Clark simply staired out of the window and viewed the beautiful city below him and he took note of many people were walking below.

Xiulan had been wondering something since this jouney had began and she looked at Clark and Lori and she asked

"How do you two expect to stop these people by yourselves?" Lori looked at her not exactly knowing how to answer when Clark broke the answer and replied

"trust me Xiulan, the people that tried to sell you will not be selling anyone else I promise". Xiualn looked into the eyes of Clark and knew that there was more to him than meets the eye and she also noticed how determined the look on his face was, she knew that he meant what he said.

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Oliver was sitting alone in his apartment and he realized that the state senator he supported was named Martha Kent and he guessed that this Clark Kent was probably her son and that since his girlfriend Lois Lane was her advisor she probably knew Clark Kent as well.

Oliver knew that he could probably get Lois and Martha to allow him to have dinner at the Kent farm and that way he would be able to meet Clark Kent and get to know him himself.

Oliver wanted to know whether or not Clark Kent was a friend or a threat and he was going to find out the old fashion way, by meeting him.

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Clark, Lori, and Xiulan landed and they were now driving in a private limo owned by Xiulan's father, they were in the back as the limo was taking them up the hills and to the mansion of Xiulan's father Mr. Jao.

Clark was staring outside and he knew that this would not be easy but he knew that these people needed to be stopped. Clark had his arm wrapped around Lori as he held her close to him, he knew that he needed to protect her at all costs because he couldn't bare to lose her and he knew that with the way his powers were increasing, he would have to be careful not to anyone.

Xiulan smiled and looked at Clark and Lori and said

"Look, you can see the mansion up ahead were getting close". Lori smiled at Xiulan and replied

"That's great Xiulan, I can't wait to walk inside of it". Suddenly all three of them heard an explosion and they all three looked out the window in horror, The mansion was on fire, set ablaze by an explosion.

"OH NO FATHER" Xiulan yelled.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Tobias Manning otherwise known as Terra- man was a villain and hired assassin whom at this moment was escaping through the woods on a bike like machine that had weapons attached to it that allowed him to escape with ease away from what he had just done, blow up the Jao mansion.

"Should be a good payday" Terra- man thought to himself.

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Xiulan was on her knees staring at the fire with the orange glow of the fire reflecting off her eyes and and reflecting the pain that she was now feeling inside her soul.

"NOOOO HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED" Xiulan screamed, Lori was on her knees holding Xiulan close to her allowing her to cry on her shoulder, Clark had her hand on Xiulan's shoulder staring at the fire and feeling the anger boiling up inside of him.

"Why would anyone do this?" Xiulan cried out feeling pain at the loss of her father, Lori held her close and replied

"I don't know Xiulan, but we will find out who did this". Clark got down and looked at Xiulan and said

"We swear it, we will find out who did this and stop them and we will stop the people that tried to sell you, I promise". Xiulan cried hard and she was in near shock because she didn't know where to go from here. Lori continued to hug her as Clark knelt down and kept his had on her shoulder because both of them wanted to comfort Xiulan and help her through this terrible time.

"Let's call the police" Clark suggested hoping that they could start to get to the bottom of this. Xiulan could barely speak and she replied through sobs of tears

"call them, but if someone did this maybe they are close by". Lori looked at Clark with an expression that suggested she knew that Clark may still be able to catch this person or group of people.

Clark stood up and and he used hisn X-ray vison on the surrounding area and he noticed that in the far off distance there was a man and Clark could tell he was on a bike and that he had weapons on him. Clark then looked at Lori and said

"Call the police and I'll check the woods" Lori nodded her head yes knowing from the look on Clark's face that he had found something.

Clark then made sure that Xiulan was not looking and he used his super speed to rush to the man on the bike.

"Ha easy kill, easy pay day" Terra man thought to himself and then suddenly he was thrown off his weaponized bike and he screamed

"WHAT THE HELL". Terra- man could see Clark and he could see that the young man held him up against a tree with his hand wrapped around his throat. Clark put his face real close to the man and said in a low deadly voice

"Who are you?".

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Oliver knew that the way to get closer to Clark was to get closer to the people around him mainly Lois and his mother, Oliver needed to know if Clark was truly the good guy that Bart, Victor, and Arthur said he was.

Oliver pulled out his phone and he called Lois, she picked up and he said

"Hey Lois, how are you today?" Lois was glad to hear from her boyfriend since he had been busy lately and she replied

"I'm great Ollie, glad to hear from you, how are you this afternoon?" Oliver smiled at the voice of his girlfriend and he replied

"I'm great Lois, I was wondering if I could have dinner with you and Mrs. Kent tonight and maybe discuss some plans for the state". Lois smiled and she was happy that such a great guy was backing Martha and she replied

"She isn't busy tonight I think that can be arranged". Oliver was happy to hear this and he replied

"That's great how about six tonight, would that work?" Lois smirked and said

"That would be great Ollie, see you tonight".

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Lex was sitting alone in his office and he was pleased with himself, he knew that the battle suits that Luthor corp made would make him millions and he knew that whomever was out there with super powers running around would soon be put in check.

Lex knew that there shouldn't be anyone whom was above the law and his goal was to make sure that his battle suits would make sure that whomever it was that saved them at the charity ball would either be kept in check or if need be, be destroyed.

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Morgan Edge was happy with his assassin Terra- Man

"So he was successful in killing the head of the Jao family" Morgan asked one of his lieutenants.

The lietenant looked at Edge with an evil smirk on his face and replied

"Yes, our Hong Kong branch just reported that Jao is dead, he won't be bothering us anymore". Morgan Edge laughed and replied

"Great news indeed, he won't stand in the way of Intergang taking over his company and continuing our business in China". Morgan Edge knew that Intergang made a lot of money by selling other people especially young women to other people and he wanted to keep it that way.

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"I SAID WHO ARE YOU?" Clark yelled into the face of the man whose throat he had in his had. Terra Man looked at the young man afraid and not knowing how to respond because Terra Man could see the anger on the young man's face.

"Who are you?" Terra man asked in a nervous voice not knowing what to say or react. Clark squeezed his throat a little tighter and replied with a scary tone

"I ask the questions here now, who are you?". Terra man was not sure of what to do so he tried the only option he had available and used his right hand to pull a switch off of his belt and it caused his suit to fire lasers from an opening in the chest of the suit.

The lasers blasted Clark back a few feet which caused him to release the choke that he had on Terra Man, Terra Man then pulled out some special guns he had on his side and pointed them at Clark and said with an evil grin

"Goodbye Kid", Clark then gave him a smirk and a look of scary confidence that caught Terra Man off guard and he replied

"I Dare you to pull the trigger". Terra Man was frozen in place, he didn't know what to do.

Authors notes- Hydrokinesis is the ability to move water with your mind, just like telekinesis but only with water, in the comics Lori Lemaris is from Atlantis and it's a power of hers as well as a power of aquamans

-I hope using the World Sex slave trade as a story plot doesn't offend anyone but I felt that a major world issue like this would be much more suitable in getting Clark to save people outside of Smallville rather then using Oliver to tell him he should like the show did.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Terra Man was frozen in fear from the look that Clark was giving him, he had his most powerful guns pointed right at him and the young man had literally no fear on his face and it caused Terra Man to be afraid

"You can put the guns down on your own or I can hurt you" Clark said with a low scary voice that unnerved Terra Man even more

"Who the hell are you kid?" Terra Man replied with a worried tone and a scared expression on his face. Clark started walking up to Terra Man really slow and it was menacing because Terra Man could tell that Clark meant business, Clark walked right up to him and using his speed snatched both guns from his hands and threw them to the ground and then he grabbed Terra Man by the throat and replied

"I am the man that will stop you, and whomever you work for" Terra Man could see the determination in his eyes and he knew that it was pointless to fight back, Clark then squeezed the throat of Terra Man a little harder to knock him out, Clark then picked up the knocked out man and put him over his shoulder and used his speed to rush back to where Lori and Xiulan were.

When Clark got there he threw Terra Man down to the ground in front of Lori and Xiulan whom had her back turned since Lori was consoling her, Xiulan turned around and saw Terra Man on the ground and said in a rage

"IS THAT THE MAN THAT KILLED MY FATHER?" Clark gave Xiulan a look of understanding and replied

"Yes he is, and he is going to lead us to whomever sent him to do it". Lori looked on and realized that the man that killed Xiulan's father was most likely an assassin and she could tell that Clark wanted to use the assassin to track whomever sent him and hopefully stop the group that kidnapped Xiulan and her friends and tried to sell Xiulan.

Lori could see the determination in Clark's eyes and she knew that he wanted to completely destroy the world sex slave trade and she knew that stopping the group that kidnapped Xiulan would be a start.

Xiulan wanted to kill him, she wanted to get revenge for her father and her family and Clark could see the rage in her eyes and he said to her

"He will go to jail Xiulan, but before then we can use to track down whomever sent him".

Xiulan hated letting the man that killed her father live but she also knew that Clark was right

"What is your plan Clark?" Xiulan asked through raged and teared filled eyes. Clark walked over to Xiulan and Lori and he looked down at the unconscious Terra Man and replied

"We're going to interrogate him and find out what he knows, Xiulan do you have a private place we can interrogate him?". Xiulan looked down at Terra Man with hatred in her eyes and heart and replied

"Yes, our family has place, far enough away that no one will hear his screams if we torture him".

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Oliver was with Lois and Martha and they were enjoying a meal at the Kent farm, they were all at the kitchen table and Oliver knew that it would be a great time to try and find out some information about Clark Kent. Oliver enjoyed being around the company of his girlfriend Lois and Martha, he could tell that she was a good person and he was glad he threw his support behind her.

"Wow I never was really on a farm, it must be interesting to run one" Oliver said with a charming smile on his face that Martha liked and Lois was attracted to. Martha only smiled a little and looked down at her plate and replied

"I'm just glad I have Clark here or else it would be quite lonely". Lois could see the sadness in Martha's face and she knew that was probably thinking about Jonathan and Lois replied

"Yeah Smallville certainly does do a good job keeping up with the farm". Oliver could tell that it had been a rough time for Martha Kent and he replied

"Clark is a lucky guy to have such a great mother" Martha smiled at the charming man and replied

"Thank you Oliver, so what brings you out here tonight?" Martha and Lois both looked at Oliver intently wondering why he wanted to have this dinner, Oliver wanted to find out more about Clark bet he couldn't very well tell them that so he played a different card and replied

"Well Mrs. Kent as you know there seems to be someone out there with super powers saving the day and I was hoping we could discuss a plan should this super powered being ever decide to go rogue"

Lois smiled at her boyfriend and she loved the initiative that he was showing, though Lois liked the idea of a super powered being running around saving people, Lois was no fool, she was a military brat and she understood the importance of being ready just in case.

Martha was taken aback and surprised by what Oliver had to say because she had no idea that is why he wanted to have dinner, Martha knew that as a politician it was her job to help keep the people safe and to protect them against any threats but she also knew that her son was no threat. Martha also did not want to lose the support of Oliver Queen so she replied

"I agree Oliver, It is important to have a plan to keep the people safe just in case this being with powers is a threat".

Oliver studied her carefully and he knew that she was in a tough position but Oliver also knew that it was important they make a plan just in case her son does somehow become a threat. Oliver could tell that Martha felt a little guilty for her response so he replied

"Thank you Mrs. Kent, This means a lot and I promise I will continue to offer my support to you and your office". Oliver than continued to eat the rest of his meal as Lois smiled happy that her boyfriend and Mrs. Kent were working together to keep the people of the world safe.

Oliver now had to find a way to meet this Clark Kent one on one and determine himself if he could be trusted or not because Oliver knew, someone with the kind of power that he had if left unchecked could become a real problem.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Clark tied the unconscious Terra Man to a chair with Lori and Xiulan standing behind him, Xiulan wanted to rip him apart piece by piece, Lori didn't care for the man but she just wanted to get the answers they were looking for.

Xiulan's family had a place a few miles away from her father's mansion, It was a guest house where visitors whom came to see Xiulan's father could stay, Xiulan mentioned that her father didn't trust many people so he preferred that they stay in a place away from the mansion.

It was a basic nice house with all the necessities and comforts that anyone would need

"WAKE UP" screamed Xiulan to Terra Man not wanting him to be able to rest any longer, Terra Man woke up and he saw Clark in front of him with two young women on each side of him.

"WHO SENT YOU TO KILL MY FATHER?" Screamed Xiulan wanting to find the answers she sought. Clark and Lori looked at Terra Man stoicly waiting for him to give them the answers they wanted, Terra Man looked at the three of them and was confused as to how a man with his weaponry could be trapped like this. Terra Man looked at Xiulan with an evil grin and replied

"I'm not telling little girl it's my secret, and I'm not sharing" Xiulan hated the expression on Terra Man's face and she slapped him hard causing him to wince in pain.

Clark then took a step forward knowing that they would have to outsmart the assassin and he replied

"We are going to turn you in to the authorities, Do you think your bosses are so trusting that they would believe you didn't talk?". Terra Man looked at Clark and knew that he was right Intergang would just assume he talked and have him taken out in prison.

Terra Man looked at Clark and replied

"What's your point kid? It's not like you can protect me?". Lori looked at Clark and she could tell he had an idea and that he was working on something, she just hoped that it would work

"Your bosses can't have you killed, If they are in prison too, so tell us who sent you?" Terra Man realized that the kid was right he had no other options but to tell them whom sent them if for nothing else but to try and protect himself. Terra Man looked at all three of the people in front of him and he replied

"I work for Intergang, and the man that runs Intergang is... Morgan Edge".

Clark had a shocked look on his face, He looked at Terra Man with a skeptical look and he replied

"That's impossible Morgan Edge died years ago in Smallville, I was there when he did". Lori and Xiulan were shocked and looked at Clark both wondering how he knew of Morgan Edge.

Terra Man grinned and replied

"His insides were destroyed when he was shot by Lex Luthor, but thanks to the technology built by Intergang, he was put back together again and it saved his life". Clark was angry now, very angry he took a step forward and grabbed Terra Man by the throat and he screamed

"IS INTERGANG BEHIND THE HUMAN TRAFFICING THAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING HERE AS WELL? ANSWER ME NOW". Terra Man was scared for his life because he could see that the young man meant business and he replied in a scared tone

"yes, they are, Intergang has many money making ventures all around the world, human trafficing is just one of them". Clark released his throat and took a few steps back and he turned around to face Lori and Xiulan and he said

"If we want to draw Morgan Edge out, than I think our best move is to start destroying Intergang piece by piece until we get to him". Lori looked at Clark skeptical and she replied

"How do we do that Clark? This Intergang seems to operate all around the world". Clark looked at Lori with an idea and he replied

"We start right here in Hong Kong, If we can stop the human trafficking here than maybe we can start to weaken Intergang".

Xiulan liked what she was hearing and she replied

"With the money my family has we have the financial resources for such an undertaking" Clark and Lori both turned and looked at Xiulan and Lori replied

"Are you sure you want to take part in this Xiulan?, It will probably be dangerous" Xiulan looked at both Clark and Lori and replied

"I can tell you both are really special people, and after what Intergang has done to me and my family I want to help out any way I can". Terra Man didn't like the face that he was being ignored and he spoke up and said

"What about me? I gave you the information you wanted". Clark looked at him and replied

"We will fake your death and give you a new ID, an ID that Intergang can not trace" Terra Man smiled

"Then you go to jail" Lori finished with a satisfied smirk on her face after seeing that what she said took the joy off of Terra Man's face.

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Lex Luthor was at a press conference at LuthorCorp in Metropolis with U.S Military and Government officials behind him, Lex Luthor was announcing the partnership between LuthorCorp and the government.

"With the new LuthorCorp battle suit, We now have a way to protect ourselves from terrorists and super powered beings alike, The United States now has the superior technology to fight off any threats that may attack our great land". The reporters were all taking pictures and raising their hands wanting to ask Lex questions.

Lex pointed to one of the reporters and the reporter asked

"How much will LuthorCorp stand to make from this deal?'. Lex smiled at the reporter and replied

"Luthorcorp will make a hefty profit, but the greatest satisfaction for me and my company is knowing that our technology will be keeping all of us safe". Lex than waved toward the reporters and walked away from the podium with a security official walking up to the podium and announcing that there would be no further questions

Lex Luthor and Senator Tom Mindel, a senator from New York, as well as the chairman of the Armed forces committee met in Lex's office after the press conference

"So Lex, how many of these suits can you have produced by the end of this month?" Lex gave a small grin and replied

"We can have hundreds of them produced senator Mindel". Mindel took a sip of his scotch and replied

"That's great news Lex, our military will be ready for anything". Lex looked at the Senator and he replied

"We have to be ready Senator, in case some super powered freak shows up and attacks, we have to be ready to defend humanity". Senator Mindel nodded his head and replied

"We will be Lex, thanks to you" Lex grinned and thought to himself

"Good, everything is coming together"

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Oliver and Lois watched on the news as Lex revealed his new LuthorCorp battlesuit and they both knew that Lex was probably up to something and Lois looked at Oliver and said

"After what happened at The charity ball it seems that Lex really wants to be prepared". Oliver nodded his head and replied

"We were both there Lois, Something with extraordinary powers saved us that night, and I would be lying if I said it didn't scare me a little bit to know that something with that kind of power is out there". Lois looked at her boyfriend and replied

"True, whatever saved us does have a lot of power, but if whomever it was wanted to cause harm, I think they already would have already".

Oliver knew that Lois was probably right and that whomever this Clark Kent was, he probably was not a threat, but still Oliver was only human and he was afraid to think of what someone with the power of Clark Kent could do if they were to get angry and have there be nothing around to keep him in check.

Oliver knew that Lois and Clark were friends but he figured that Lois didn't know that Clark had powers and he decided that he would honor that secrecy so long as Clark Kent was not a threat.

Oliver watching the press conference that Lex just had realized that if LuthorCorp could develop something to protect humanity, than so could Queen Industries

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Xiulan was in the bedroom getting some rest, Clark and Lori were in the Kitchen and Terra Man was asleep on his chair.

Clark and Lori were in the kitchen discussing their plans for how they would take down Intergang

"How do you know Morgan Edge?" asked Lori curious as to how Clark knew of him Clark looked at her and replied

"A few years ago I ran away from home, I met Morgan Edge in Metropolis and a few months later he came to Smallville and some things happened with him and Lex Luthor and Morgan Edge ended up getting shot". Lori could see pain in Clark's eyes telling that story and she decided to drop it because she figured he would tell her the whole story some other time.

Clark looked at Lori and he could see that she was being understanding and he loved that about her, Clark then said to Lori  
"If we are going to fight Intergang together, I think we need to teach ourselves how to fight better". Lori looked at Clark intrigued and replied

"We do have powers Clark, I think we will be able to handle ourselves". Clark looked at Lori concerned and replied

"We don't know what we will be going up against, we have to be prepared for anything we may face" Lori nodded her head because she knew that Clark was right.

"What do you have in mind?" Lori asked curious as to what Clark was thinking

"I have a fortress up north, It has all the knowledge of the 28 known galaxies within it, my father left it for me to prepare me for anything I may face, After what happended with the events of Dark thursday it has no power in it now but if I can restore its power, then it will be able to train both of us".

Lori was amazed at what Clark just told her, The more she got to know him the more amazing and extraordinary he turned out to be

"How do you plan to restore its power?" Lori asked wondering what his plan was

"I can program the fortress to gain energy from me, It wouldnt take much to at least get it functioning again, once it has a little of my energy the fortress will start to regain its own power naturally"

"Won't that hurt you?" Lori asked worried for her boyfriend, Clark looked at Lori and he could tell she was worried about his plan and he replied

"It may have before, but lately my powers have been growing, all I have to do now is program the fortress to gain some of my power, I can run to a highly sunny spot and use the solar energy to fuel me so that the fortress doesn't weaken me when it used my power to fix itself, I didn't think I could do it before without the process hurting me but now, my powers are growing almost daily, I believe I can do this now, and besides it will be a good thing to have to have my fortress back just in case we need it".

Lori stared amazed and replied

"Can I see this fortress?". Clark smiled at her and said

"Of course you can, as soon Xiulan has her security come here in the morning to watch Terra Man I will take you there". Lori was excited, she felt truly connected with Clark.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Morning came and Xiulan's security came to watch Terra Man and Xiulan wanted to stay with security to make sure that all went well, Xiulan also planned to call the authorities and use her family influence to put Terra Man in a hole in one of the local prisons. She didn't want him alive but he did give them answers so she would honor their side of the deal.

Clark took Lori in his arms outside the house and started running North in less than five seconds he was in the North pole and standing in his Fortress.

"Wow, this is so amazing" Lori said looking around and admiring the beauty of the fortress. Clark held her close and replied

"It is exactly like the terrain of Krypton, my home planet". Lori walked around and stared all around her in amazement and replied

"Krypton must have been a beautiful place, It's hard to believe this place has so much knowledge". Clark walked to the crystal mainframe that comprised the controls of the Fortress and he replied

"Kryptonian scientists gathered knowledge from all over the known universe, that knowledge was split into three crystals that were sent to earth for me to find, I found them over a year ago and combined them to create the fortress".

Clark then plucked out one of his hairs from his head and he took one of the crystals from the main frame and slid the crystal into a special slot in the main frame, he then took the strand of hair he plucked and put it onto the slot that he slid the crystal into.

Lori watched Clark do all of this in amazement because all of this seemed so surreal, As soon as Clark put his strand of hair onto the slot that he put the crystal into the Fortress started to glow, and Clark felt himself weaken.

"Lori how fast and strong are you?" Lori could tell that Clark was struggling to stand and she helped him to stand. Lori was worried about Clark and she replied

"I can carry you to to somewhere sunny within a half hour, I can run at roughly a thousand miles an hour but I can swim much faster". Clark felt his body weakening quickly and he replied

"I would have used the key at my home to do this but I didn't know that my body would weaken this quickly, the Fortress is sucking away my power quickly, Can you carry me to Northern Russia? There should be some sun there".

Clark could feel himself begining to pass out and Lori was really scared so she picked him up and put him on her shoulder and started running out of the fortress, She ran for quite awhile heading toward Russia. Lori ran to a small town that had sunlight coming into it and she ran to an open space where there was a field and though it was cold it had plenty of sunlight.

Lori then layed Clark down in the field where he could absorb the sunlight just like Clark wanted her to do

"Please let this work, come on baby wake up" Lori said hoping that Clark would wake up soon. Within a few moments Clark started moving around and Clark could feel some energy starting to re enter his body.

Lori held Clark in her arms and she watched his face and he opened his eyes and looked directly into Lori's beautiful blue eyes and he smiled at her and said

"Hello beautiful". Lori gave him the most beautiful smile and she started kissing his face and giving him kisses on his lips as she held him close.

"Thank you for getting me to sunlight Lori, You saved me, without you I would be in a coma right now" Clark said while looking into the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. Clark then wrapped his arms around Lori and pulled her down to him and they made out in that field allowing their tongues to explore each other's mouths

The two of them rolled around in the field and kissed each other while laughing and enjoying being with each other. Clark held Lori in his arms as her hair fell on his face and he loved the feel of her in his arms and he loved smell of her hair in his face.

The two of them stood up and hugged each other with the sunshine as the backdrop, Clark felt it was truly one of the most wonderful moments in his life and he wished it could last forever.

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Martha knew that LuthorCorp was making a deal with the U.S government to mass produce battle suits for them and she knew that Oliver wanted to make plans just in case the super powered being whom happened to be her son attacked humantiy.

Martha was afraid for her son, she didn't know how Clark would deal with so many either coming after him or afraid of him, Martha was thinking about a plan that Oliver suggested that would call for super powered beings to register with the government so that it would show they are not a threat by coming clean about their identity

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Oliver after watching Lex show off the new LuthorCorp battle suits wanted to come up with a way to protect humanity himself, his idea that he was going to discuss with Arthur, Bart, and Victor was for all super powered beings to be registered and come clean with their identities so that there would be no element of secrecy. Oliver called a meeting with his team together so that he could discuss his idea with them.

Oliver was unsure of how they would take his plan but he felt that it was the only way they could help people and stay legit, He knew it would be tough to convince them but he hoped they would agree with his plan, and he hoped they could get Clark Kent to agree with his plan.

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Dan Turpin was sitting in his office and he had been thinking about everything that happened from the men that were caught at the Celtic festival to the gunman that was caught at the college and he realized that somehow they were all connected, and he knew they were connected to Security Services.

"It had to be part of something else, It's a front company, It has to be" Turpin thought to himself. Turpin was going to get a warrant to check out Security Services and hopefully when they search the place it would tell them the truth behind Security Services.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Clark and Lori told Xiulan than they would take a few days to get ready so that they would be more prepared to stop Intergang. Xiulan went about the business of trying to get her father's business affairs in order since his assassination.

Terra Man was in the custody of the local Hong Kong authorities and he was locked away in solitary safe from any one inside whom would try to take him out.

Clark introduced Lori to Jor-El and Jor-El spoke and asked

"Who is this woman my son?" Clark looked up and replied to Jor-El

"She is my female companion, as well as my partner father" Jor-El than spoke and asked Lori

"Do you truly love my son?" Lori smiled and spoke up and replied

"Yes Jor-El," Lori than looked at Clark with the most beautiful smile and said

"I love him with all my heart". Jor-El replied

"Than you are welcome here Lori of earth for as long as you wish".

Clark and Lori would spend the next few days in the fortress training in various martial arts, Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, Kong Fu, Boxing, as well as kick boxing and training with various weapons. They would spar with holographic simulations as well as spar with each other. The training combined with their ability to learn quickly made them formidable fighters quickly and they grew closer together during their training because though it only had been a few days, it really made them grow closer together as a couple and as partners.

The fortress had tutorials and holographic training simulations for pretty much everything imaginable, Clark and Lori sparred againg simulations as well as each other learning more and falling in love more with each other the entire time.

Night had fallen and the training of the day had come to an end and the two of them were laying in bed together, a kryptonian bed deep within the fortress. Clark was wearing a T shirt and pajamas and Lori was wearing a night gown and they curled up and held each other really close and neither of them ever felt this connected with anyone before. Both had the same thoughts in mind, they wanted to truly consomate their relationship, but they were both afraid to make the move to do so.

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Arthur, Bart, and Victor were all sitting in Oliver's apartment staring at their leader whom called this meeting and Oliver spoke up first and said

"I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think we should register with the government, so that we stay legit in the eyes of the people". The three men that heard this thought that Oliver had lost his mind

"Are you crazy?" Bart asked

"There is no way the government will ever accept us" Arthur said wondering why Oliver was suggesting this. Victor stared at Oliver in silence wondering what Oliver had on his mind.

Oliver stared at his team knowing that he would get this kind of response and he replied

"I want to prevent a situation from happening where the government and the people fear us, If we can stop that from happening now we can prevent a war from breaking out between the governments of the world and super powered beings".

Bart looked at Oliver and wondered if there was some other reason for this and he replied

"Is this because you are afraid of Clark and what he is capable of?" Oliver looked at Bart and replied

"Partially yes, I have seen his power first hand and he may be a good person but someone of his power has to be kept in check some way, and with the battle suits LuthorCorp made being sold to the government, super powered beings coming out now could prevent those battle suits from ever having to be used".

Bart, Arthur, and Victor all looked at each other and then back at Oliver and nodded their head yes, Victor than looked at Oliver and said

"If you think this is best than fine, we will do it but it may not prevent the government from coming after us". Oliver nodded his head understanding where his friends were coming from and he replied

"If the government comes after us we will defend ourselves, but only if they come after us"

Bart, Arthur, and Victor all nodded their heads in acknowledgement.

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Lana was happy that LuthorCorp had sold battle suits to the government and now humanity would have a way of protecting itself from super powered beings. Lana was sitting in the talon drinking a cappucinno and she couldn't help but think of Clark and Lori.

"I know Clark has a secret, and somehow this Lori woman knows what it is" Lana thought to herself bitterly.

"Well if she can find out what it is, then so can I" Lana thought to herself. Lana now had a new goal and she was going to accomplish it

"I will find out the secret of Clark Kent"

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Martha was in Topeka discussing Oliver's plan to have super powered beings register with the government, the whole situation was uncomfortable to her, her fellow state senators thought it was a great idea and they even felt the proposal should be taken all the way to Washington D.C.

Martha wanted to protect her son but she also had a duty as a politician to protect the people and even Martha admitted to herself that Oliver's idea was not a bad idea. Martha had seen what super powered meteor freaks could do and she had to admit it would make it easier for people to defend themselves and be ready if the general public knew whom these people were. Martha just hoped that her son would understand why she was doing this because she knew that he wouldn't like the idea of this plan.

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Clark and Lori's training was about to be put to the test because a phantom zoner by the name of Baern was starting to attack Tokyo Japan. the phanom was using his hands to produce energy beams to destroy cars and to attack people. Baern wanted to test his powers on people and see how much destruction his energy abilities had on earth and baern was quite impressed with himself

"These humans, they die so easily" Baern said smirking as he watched them fall to him one by one

"I will find the energy source that can sustain me, a piece of a ship, it will give me unlimited power" Baern thought to himself laughing

"And when I have unlimited power, I will rule this world".

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Lex watched on the news as the destruction Tokyo was taking place

"Excellent, a perfect chance for my battle suits to prove themselves" Lex thought to himself realizing that when his suits save the day it will mean that LuthorCorp saved the day and more importantly Lex Luthor saved the day.

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Clark and Lori were still cuddling together when suddenly Jor-El's voice started to speak and said hurry my son, an earth city called Tokyo is being attacked by a phantom named Baern and you are its only hope for survival, use the phantom zone crystal to capture the phantom.

Clark and Lori quickly got dressed and Clark picked up Lori and said

"Let's go" Lori nodded her head and Clark used his Super speed to take them to Tokyo.


	32. Chapter 32

Journey to Greatness Chapter 32

Clark had Lori in his arms and they super speeded to Tokyo in less than two seconds, they landed in the middle of the main street in Downtown Tokyo where they saw Baern using energy beams from his hands to attack the city, There was no media around because they were too scared to get close to Baern.

Baern turned around and saw Clark and Lori and smirked evilly and said

"Looks like the kyrptonian cockroach son of Jor-El has arrived" The sun was behind Clark and Lori casting powerful light on them showing just how strong they looked together. Clark looked at Baern and smiled and replied

"Your just a little phantom that got lucky and escaped the phantom zone when I did, We're here to put you back". Lori looked right into Baerns eyes and said with an angered look on her face

"You will pay for the destruction you caused this city, We promise you that". Baern laughed at Lori and replied

"Tough talk... For someone that is about to die". Baern then stuck his hand out and roared and fired an energy beam straight at Lori, Clark using his amazing super reflexes and his super speed quickly jumped on Lori getting her out of the way of the blast. Clark with his body on Lori turned his head and fired heat vision directly at Baern to which Baern got his hand up quickly and fired a blast of his own causing the two beams of energy to collide and exploding in the center which sent Baern flying backward.

Clark then stood up in front of Lori and assumed a Muay Thai fighting position that he learned in the fortress, he stood in front of Lori to protect her. Baern looked at Clark and knew that he was much more powerful than he had anticipated and he looked at Clark and said

"We will have to call round 1 a draw, see ya later Kryptonian" He than sped off, and headed toward Smallville. Clark was surprised at first but then he immediately realized that Baern needed to recharge, the problem was that he didn't know what power source fueled Baern.

Clark turned around and saw a shaken up Lori that was a bit woozy from the blast before as well as Clark having to take her down to save her. Clark then bent down and helped Lori to her feet. she looked at Clark and asked

"Where did he go Clark?" Clark gave her a worried look and replied

"I think he went off to find a power source to refuel himself, problem is I do not know what he will use, I think we need to go back to the Fortress and ask Jor-El for some answers". Lori realized that Clark was right but she looked around and she saw a lot of buildings with damage and she looked at Clark with a tear in her eye and replied

"What about all the damage Clark?, We have to help rebuild this area" Clark knew that Lori was right but he also knew that stopping Baern now would have to take top priority to stop any further damage from occuring over the world. Clark looked at Lori with an understanding look and replied

"We will help rebuild this area Lori, but we have to stop Baern now, we can't let him power up or else there will be more damage". Lori shook her head acknowledging that Clark was right and with that Clark picked up Lori and He ran back to the Fortress within two seconds, Clark than set Lori down, Clark had to get answers, and he needed them now.

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Oliver and Martha were at the Kent farm discussing their plan of getting super powered beings to come forward and admit whom they are.

"I have a team of super powered people that will step forward and show that our plan intends no harm to any super powered being". smiled because she wasn't sure if any being with super powers would actually come forward and she was happy Oliver already had volunteers to be the first.

"That is great Oliver, hopefully if it it seen that the first super powered beings to register can do it safely, it will hopefully convince others that it is safe for them as well". Oliver looked at Martha and smiled because he was happy she agreed with his plan and he replied

"I hope so , If Lex has his way the battle suits LuthorCorp made will intimidate people with powers, I want them to have their identities without fear of persecution and I feel that being open with whom they are is the best way to do that, hopefully with less secrecy comes less fear". Martha listened to Oliver's words intently and she agreed with him, Openness was a lot safer and would hopefully make there be no need for the battle suits that LuthorCorp made. Martha nodded her head and replied

"I hope you are right Oliver".

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Lex was on the phone with the president discussing the situation in Tokyo

"Lex there was no need to use your battle suits because by the time the troops got there, the perpetrator of the attacks was already gone". Lex was very upset and replied angrily

"This could be a super powered freak out there causing havoc, and my companies Battle suit will be our only hope of stopping it ". The president simply replied

"Luthor, The world has survived without your battle suits and I think the world will be just fine now" The president then hung up the phone angering Lex.

Lex than called his Main security agent on his Cell phone and when the security agent picked answered his phone Lex said

"I have my private army ready with the battle suits to handle whomever did this in Tokyo, have our team proceed with the operation in Hong Kong" The security agent then replied

"Yes sir". Lex sat in his chair in his office and smiled evilly and thought to himself

"My army needs a general, And the perfect choice is in a Hong Kong prison right now".

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"Jor-El what is Baern's power source" Clark asked knowing that they had to find out quickly. Both Clark and Lori stood waiting for an answer when Jor-El spoke up and replied

"The phantom Baern runs off of electricity my son, but that will only sustain him temporarily, the power source that he seeks is a broken piece from the brain interactive constructs ship, that will sustain him indefinitely". Clark than widened his eyes as he realized that the what Baern is looking for is what caused the black out on Dark thursday and Clark replied

"But Jor-El replied I destroyed that when I escaped from the phantom zone, there is no way he can get it now, it is gone" Jor-El then replied

"No my son, you destroyed a part of it but there is still enough intact to sustain Baern indefinitely". Clark then thought to himself and realized that Lex still probably had the piece that Baern was looking for because it was in Lex's office on the day of Dark thursday. Clark then looked at Lori and said

"I know where to find it" He then picked up Lori and sped off.


	33. Chapter 33

Journey to Greatness Chapter 33

Clark had Lori in his arms and he raced from the Fortress to Luthor mansion and when he got there he quickly used his X-ray vision as he was running and he saw into Lex's office and he could see that Lex and Lana were knocked out unconscious on the floor. Clark then increased his speed and ran himself and Lori into the office.

"Baern got here before us" Clark said accessing the situation as he and Lori looked at Lex and Lana on the floor, they both were worried about their safety and Lori replied

"I hope they are all right" Clark activated his super hearing and he heard both of their hearts beating and he said

"I can hear their hearts beating, they will be fine" Clark realized that they had to find Baern, the fate of the world would depend on it and Clark was not going to let his adoptive home world suffer at the hands of a phantom criminal. Lori looked at Clark and asked worried

"What should we do?, Baern was here and he may have found what he was looking for" Clark looked at Lori and realized she was right and replied

"You stay here and make sure Lex and Lana get to a hospital and I will find Baern, He is looking to destroy me to get revenge on Jor-El anyway, It's me he wants, not you" Lori got a worried look on her face and replied

"Clark that is crazy, if Baern found what he is looking for than he will be more powerful that ever, You can't face him alone". Clark smirked slightly and replied

"Don't worry about me Lori, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I have been working on since our training at the fortress".

Lori did not want Clark to fight Baern alone and she replied

"Let me fight with you Clark, I don't want to lose you" Clark shook his head no and replied

"Your instincts are good Lori, but your not as fast as Baern and you don't have invulnerability like I do, I promise Lori I can handle Baern". Lori started getting tears in her eyes but she shook them off and replied

"Alright Clark, just please stay alive and please win". Clark nodded his up and down and with that super speeded out of the office to go look for Baern.

Lori then pulled out her phone and called 911 to get some help for Lex and Lana. She waited for them to arrived and she prayed that Clark would remain safe.

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Clark knew that if he went back to the fortress he could activate a signal that would hopefully allow Baern to find him there. Before would activate the signal, Clark wanted to make sure that he was dressed for the fight that was to come. so he activated a crystal that presented him with a Kryptonian style fighting outfit that was especially made for him by his father Jor-El.

Clark held in his hands a long dark sleeve kryptonian shirt with his family's shield on the front, the shield was silver and Clark noticed how magnificent it looked on the dark black thread and there was lond dark Kryptonian thread pants that fit would fit perfectly on Clark, and Clark noticed that the thread was incredibly comfortable as he held it in his arms. Clark noticed that the suit also came with dark cape as well a sheath to hold a sword, Clark quickly put on the uniform. and felt comfortable in the suit and it felt natural for Clark to wear it.

Jor-El spoke up and said

"My son, that is an ancient Kryptonian war suit that would have been worn by a krytonian general, The suit will absorb solar rays so that the suit will be invulnerable, here me son take this as well". Clark then saw a kryptonian sword come up from the crystals, the sword was the length of a katana with the blade being almost two feet in length, the blade had plenty of Kryptonian symbols on it including his families signal, signals for hero as well as signals meaning warrior. The sword had a silver colored handle and Clark admired the sword and he grabbed it and put it in the sheath on the back of the uniform. The handle of the sword stuck out at the top of the cape allowing the wearer of the uniform to easily grab the sword for battle.

"You are ready for battle my son, The sword will also absorb solar radiation allowing it to be invulnerable as well, good luck my son". Clark smiled and looked up and replied

"Thank you...Father". Clark then activated his families kryptonian symbol and within seconds Baern showed up Clark turned around and they both stared at each other preparing for the battle that was about to take place.

"Prepare to be destroyed Kryptonian, your father sent me to that desert hell, and you will pay for your father's crime". Clark looked directly into Baerns eyes with a look that even unnerved Baern and he replied

"Your the criminal that committed crimes, my father was just the one to stop you, and now, I'll stop you". Baern replied with evil in his eyes and said

"I obtained the energy from the brain interactive constructs ship, my power is ten fold what it was before, I could wipe out this whole planet if I wanted to, you can't stop me Kal-El, no one can". Clark got angry and replied

"You will not kill anyone on this planet, I won't let you Baern". Baern laughed and replied

"You will be dead Kal-El, any last requests before I kill you". Clark replied

"Yes I have one, that we do not fight here, I know you will not hesitate to destroy this entire area but if you do you will melt the ice and snow here and if you do it will flood this planet killing billions of people, I can't allow that". Baern laughed evilly and replied

"It doesn't matter where we fight you will still die, and so will this planet kryptonian" With that Baern held his hand forward and he formulated an energy sword and he rushed Clark full speed, Clark pulled out his sword and he blocked Baerns attack and their swords clashed against each other as they both looked at each other with battle looks on their face.

"Your gonna die Kryptonian" Clark smirked

"Not today Baern" and with that they jumped back and started circling each other.

Baern then swung his energy sword overhead and Clark blocked with his sword and then dropped his body and turned his body using his leg to try and take baern down, Baern jumped and avoided it and when he did Clark quickly jumped and and grabbed Baern taking him through the top of the fortress, Baern lost concentration and his energy sword dissapeared and Clark put his sword back in his sheath before he tackled Baern through the top of the fortress.

The two of them went through the air going into the sky, Clark put a full bear hug on Baern as they went through the air causing Baern pain, Baern used his hands to try and hit Clark in the back but the hits were barely felt by Clark, the two of them were past the statosphere almost in space and they began to fall back to earth, Clark maintained the bearhug and Baern tried sending energy to his hands to try and make the hits more powerful but Clark had the bearhug on so tight that Baern could not focus the energy to his hands. The two of them fell back to earth faster and faster and they were heading toward the mountain ranges of northern Siberia.

Clark shifted his body mid air and pushed Baern down, using his Heat vision to blast him all the way back down to earth, Baern crashed into a mountain range and Clark landed on his feet and took up a fighting stance. Baern then got up and jumped out the crater he made from Clark blasting him down. The two of them were standing on a mountain, with part of the mountain destroyed because of the crater, He looked at Clark with wild angry eyes and he jumped up with both hands together palms forward and fired a massive amount of energy at Clark.

Clark saw the energy beam coming and smirked, He jumped out of the way of the blast at the last possible second. Baern laughed as he saw the explosion feeling that there was no possible way for Kal-El to escape.

"HA HA YOUR DEAD KRYPTONIAN". When the smoke of the explosion settled Baern could see that there was no trace of any body and he laughed and said

"I'm so powerful there is nothing left of the Kryptonian cockroach" Baern stood by the hole created by his energy beam and admired his work.

Suddenly a yellow ball of energy blasted Baern out of no where sending him flying backward. Baern felt pain from the blast and he stood up and looked forward and saw Clark standing with a smirk on his face and Baern looked at Clark with hate in his eyes and said

"How did you do that Kryptonian? That was not heat vision". Clark smirked knowing he had Baern on the ropes and he replied

"New power I have recently discovered, Solar energy projection". Baern looked at Clark with Hate and anger filled eyes and replied

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?". Clark smiled and replied

"My body is a solar battery, it absorbs solar energy, my powers use solar energy to work, I have recently learned how to project that solar energy directly from my body, It is more powerful than heat vision because it is direct energy from the sun that my body has stored up". Baern's eyes were hate filled red and he wanted to scream and he yelled

"SO YOUR BODY HAS AN ENDLESS SOURCE OF ENERGY, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE". Clark laughed and replied

"I guess we Kryptonian Cockroaches are stronger than you thought Baern".


End file.
